Stewardship 
Among 
Baptists 

A.  L.  VAIL 


iiiiiiiiliii  ii 


!9'A 


BX  6346.5  .V3  1913 

Vail,  Albert  L.  1844-1935. 

Stewartship  among  baptists 


STEWARDSHIP 
AMONG  BAPTISTS 


STEWARDSHIP 
AMONG   BAPTISTS 


BY 

ALBERT  E'VAIL 

Author 

'  The  Morning  Hour  of  American  Baptist  Missions ' 

"Baptists  Mobilized  for  Missions," etc. 


PHILADELPHIA 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 

19  13 


Copyright  1913  by 
A.  J.  ROWLAND,  Secretary 


Published  Xoveraber,  1913 


INTRODUCTORY 


THREE    KEYWORDS 

Three  words  are  used  frequently  in  this  book, 
partly  under  protest  in  the  mind  of  the  author  and 
possibly  under  protest  from  the  reader.  To  satisfy 
both  a  few  explanations  may  be  profitable.  This  is 
the  more  appropriate  because  these  are  keywords 
to  the  whole  presentation,  and  writer  and  reader 
may  understand  each  other  better  with  the  aid  of 
this  explanatory  introduction. 

STEWARDSHIP 

The  present  time  is  liable  to  place  excessive  em- 
phasis on  this  word  in  its  property  applications  in 
consequence  of  the  current  emphasis  on  the  use 
of  property  and  the  involved  prominence  of  the 
word  in  that  connection.  In  fact,  the  use  now  almost 
exclusive  is  not  that  which  is  primary  in  the  Bible 
or  the  Christian  Hfe.  This  will  appear  more  or  less 
in  the  following  pages,  but  attention  needs  to  be 
kept  on  it  all  the  way.  But  more  pertinent  perhaps 
to  the  present  consideration  is  the  fact  that  the  term 

V 


VI  INTRODUCTORY 

in  all  applications  of  it  is  defective  for  expressing 
the  relation  between  Christ  and  his  people.  While 
this  is  true  generally,  it  is  especially  true  here  be- 
cause a  kind  of  emphasis  is  laid,  and  a  kind  of 
application  made,  on  this  point  in  this  work  which 
are  not  laid  and  made  in  the  thinking  of  many  peo- 
ple. A  steward,  or  agent,  ordinarily  is  a  separate 
personality,  with  separate  interests  from  those  of 
his  principal,  fie  handles  the  property  of  his 
employer  for  pay,  and  the  pay  he  receives  is  his 
own,  independent  of  his  employer.  He  may  be  a 
good  steward,  with  no  love  for  his  employer  and 
no  care  for  his  interests  beyond  that  stipulated  in 
his  contract  as  steward  for  a  temporary  and  partial 
service;  aside  from  which  he  has  no  relations,  and 
in  which  he  has  no  vital  relations,  with  him  for 
whom  he  works.  But  any  one  sees  easily  that  a 
steward  in  this  sense  is  far  removed  from  the 
steward  in  the  Christian  sense.  The  latter  is  re- 
deemed in  such  a  way  that  he  is  under  the  most 
exacting  obligations  to  yield  himself  entirely  to  the 
will  of  his  Lord.  And  this  abandonment  in  service 
is  not  by  law,  but  by  love ;  finds  its  impulse  not  in 
a  lash,  but  a  fellowship  most  intimate,  vital,  im- 
perishable, and  sacred.  Therefore  the  word  steward- 
ship carries  in  it  a  possible  peril  and  poison  for  the 


INTRODUCTORY  VU 

Christian  life,  and  needs  to  be  used  in  spiritual 
relations,  particularly  in  connection  with  materia! 
things,  with  a  clear  and  constant  appreciation  of 
its  inadequacy.  It  is  used  now  because  for  the 
present  time  it  seems  to  be  the  best  term  available. 

GIVING 

One  may  give  to  another  only  what  belongs  to 
himself.  The  redeemed  person  does  not  own  any- 
thing in  his  relations  with  his  Redeemer,  the  price 
paid  in  the  redemption  being  so  transcendent  that 
it  carries  with  it  everything  pertaining  to  the  re- 
deemed. It  is  therefore  improper  to  say  that  we 
give  to  the  Lord.  We  have  nothing  to  give ;  all 
that  we  handle  belongs  to  another,  who  is  the 
Lord  himself.  Shall  we  then  say  that  we  pay  a 
debt  when  we  contribute  to  the  cause  of  God? 
Certainly  not,  because  we  do  not  owe  any  debt 
in  that  direction  capable  of  being  discharged  with 
material  things  even  if  we  owned  them.  Besides, 
God  comes  to  us  in  such  a  spirit  and  with  such  a 
proposal  that  debt  is  abolished  at  the  outset.  To 
bring  it  in  after  the  Lord  has  put  it  out,  is  on  our 
part  a  colossal  blunder  and  a  glaring  impertinence. 
Our  attempt  to  pay  ofifends  the  grace  that  paid  it 
all.     Our  thought  to  pay  infringes,  if  it  does  not 


Vlll  INTRODUCTORY 

abrogate,  the  fellowship.  When  we  say  that  we  owe 
the  Redeemer  a  debt  that  we  must  first  pay,  after 
which  we  are  at  liberty,  possibly  under  obligation, 
to  give  him  something,  we  use  two  terms  that  cannot 
stand  in  the  presence  of  his  cross.  But  these  words, 
give  and  pay,  are  very  prominent  in  discussions  of 
"  stewardship."  A  third  word,  avoiding  the  errors 
of  these  two  and  expressing  only  truth  in  relation 
to  the  subject  in  hand,  is  not  in  sight.  We  therefore 
take  that  word  which  is  least  abhorrent  to  the  one 
who  has  laid  hold  on  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ, 
with  the  meaning  we  have  tried  to  explain,  whenever 
we  consider  stewardship  in  its  relations  to  the  owner. 

BAPTIST 

The  following  pages  have  much  to  say  about  Bap- 
tists, as  the  title  of  the  book  indicates.  Does  not 
this  title  voice  sectarianism,  or  at  least  does  it  not 
assume  something  distinctive  in  stewardship  among 
Baptists  which  does  not  exist?  No.  But  one  can- 
not read  with  clear  apprehension  all  the  things 
that  follow  unless  he  recognizes  those  distinctive  ele- 
ments which  do  differentiate  the  Baptists  from 
other  "  evangelical  "  bodies.  This  remark  may  fall  on 
some  unwilling  ears  among  Baptists.  The  virus  of 
compromise  may  have  so  far  infected  the  denomina- 


INTRODUCTORY  IX 

tional  consciousness  that  it  may  seem  unnecessary, 
if  not  uncharitable  or  un fraternal,  to  intimate  that 
the  Baptist  mind  has  any  different  point  of  view  or 
course  of  procedure  from  those  of  others  in  a  con- 
sideration of  stewardship.  But  our  separate  existence 
finds  its  justification  only  in  differences  that  touch 
bottom  in  certain  important  elements  of  the  Chris- 
tian life,  of  which  stewardship  is  one.  The  fuller 
meaning  of  this  may  appear  to  him  who  reads  on. 

THE    PLAN    AND   A    REASON 

This  book  is  constructed  on  substantially  the  same 
plan  as  the  author's  "  Baptists  Mobilized  for  IMis- 
sions.''  It  begins  with  a  historic  review  to  be  used 
as  a  setting  for  the  discussion  of  its  theme  in  appli- 
cation to  the  present  time.  The  reason  for  this  is 
that  a  people  cannot  deal  in  the  best  way  with  their 
present  or  their  future  independent  of  their  past. 
They  can  change  their  processes  or  their  principles 
without  regard  to  their  past,  but  they  cannot  do 
either  wisely  on  that  plan.  Whenever  they  raise  a 
question  of  change  or  advance,  they  will,  if  they  are 
wise,  first  inquire  what  their  predecessors  did  and 
why  they  did  it.  Therefore  our  consideration  of 
stewardship  among  Baptists  is  introduced  by  an  at- 
tempt to  get  in  brief  an  understanding  of  the  course 


X  INTRODUCTORY 

of  the  same,  in  its  principles  and  practices  in  earlier 
times,  when  those  foundations,  on  which  necessarily 
we  must  build,  were  laid  by  people  of  piety  and  wis- 
dom equal  to  our  own.  This  preliminary  part  re- 
quires but  little  space  because  the  records  are 
meager  and  the  outlines,  which  alone  are  necessary 
to  our  purpose,  are  quickly  determined. 

The  notes,  to  which  reference  is  made  by  small 
superior  numerals,  will  be  found  at  the  close  of  the 
book. 


CONTENTS 

Pagb 

I.  Historical    i 

II.  Tithing    47 

III.  New  Testament  Principles  "jj 


HISTORICAL 


A    BIRD  S-EYE  VIEW 


Turning  our  attention  toward  the  earlier  Baptists 
in  America  we  are  impressed  by  their  exceeding  sim- 
plicity. All  life  in  the  New  World  then  was  simple, 
and  the  Baptists  were  behind  none  in  this  element. 
This  resulted  from  their  poverty  and  their  prin- 
ciples. With  but  small  exception  they  were  humble 
both  in  social  standing  and  financial  resources. 
Their  solicitations  to  the  wider  outlooks  were  very 
few  and  their  ability  to  look  out  was  equally  limited, 
even  when  they  were  disposed  to  enlarge  their  pros- 
pect. For  a  hundred  years  from  the  first  glimmer- 
ing of  their  little  lights  in  the  wilderness,  literally 
in  the  wilderness  for  the  most  part  and  substantially 
so  everywhere,  they  stood  in  marked  isolation  and 
embarrassment  of  outlook.  And  their  principles 
acted  harmoniously.  They  were  a  spiritual  de- 
mocracy, averse,  in  their  conceptions  of  the  Chris- 
tian and  church  life,  to  every  element  and  aspect  of 
the  spectacular.  They  preferred,  as  well  as  in- 
herited, the  humblest  attitudes  and  the  simplest 
methods.  Their  first  churches  were  family  circles, 
and  their  first  missions  were  neighborhood  affairs. 


2  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

For  the  former  their  indoctrination  and  discipline 
centered  in  the  spiritual  life  and  the  brotherly  love; 
in  the  latter  they  were  embarrassed  by  an  aversion 
to  any  organization  with  a  hint  of  oppression,  as 
well  as  by  the  lack  of  the  natural  conditions  neces- 
sary to  large  operations. 

First  among  their  formulations  of  their  faith 
came  the  "  Philadelphia  Confession."  What  did  it 
say  about  the  use  of  property  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ?  Nothing,  except  "  in  relieving  each  other 
in  outward  things,  according  to  their  several  abilities 
and  necessities,"  as  in  families  and  churches,  and 
"  to  all  the  household  of  faith,  even  all  those  who 
in  every  place  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus."  But  they  did  not  make  that  Confession. 
They  borrowed  it.  As  the  Congregationalists  had 
done  before  them,  they  adopted  the  Westminster 
Confession,  with  such  modifications  on  a  few  points 
as  were  necessary  to  their  consciences ;  and  what  we 
call  stewardship,  beyond  benefactions  to  the  saints 
in  need,  was  not  one  of  those  points.  In  this,  as  in 
almost  all  else,  they  went  the  whole  length  of  the 
Westminster,  being  content  to  stop  there;  and  it 
stopped  short  of  any  specific  declaration  on  the 
duty  to  devote  possessions  to  wider  service,  though 
its  conception  of  the  Christian  life  was  that  of 
obedience  to  the  Scriptures,  which  opened  the  way 
to  the  working  out  of  the  teaching  of  the  New 
Testament  on  this  point.  Slow  as  the  Baptists,  as 
well  as  all  other  Christian  people,  then  were,  in  com- 


HISTORICAL  3 

parison  with  us,  they  were  abreast  of  tlie  best  of 
their  time. 

And  tliey  were  more  than  that,  so  far  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  Philadelphia  Confession.  Their  first 
reason  for  adopting  the  Westminster  was  that  they 
thus  might  express  their  fellowship  with  other  Chris- 
tians in  the  fundamentals  of  the  faith.  But  when 
they  had  returned  from  this  excursion  into  comity 
they  had  something  more  to  say  among  themselves. 
This  they  put  into  their  Church  Discipline.  In  it 
they  defined  a  church  as  a  company  of  people  come 
together,  "  willing  in  the  fear  of  God  to  take  the 
laws  of  Christ  upon  them,  and  do  by  one  mutual 
consent  give  themselves  up  to  the  Lord,  and  to  one 
another  in  the  Lord,  solemnly  submitting  to  the 
government  of  Christ  in  his  church."  Treating  of 
the  "  Duties  of  Church-members,"  they  said  in  the 
Discipline,  that  "  all  church-members  are  under  the 
strictest  obligations  to  do  and  observe  whatever 
Christ  enjoineth  on  them,  as  mutual  duties  toward 
one  another."  This  last  clause  reveals  their  limita- 
tion. 

They  were  not  looking  outward  from  the  church, 
but  inward  on  it.  Mutual  helpfulness  among  them- 
selves takes  care  of  itself  under  this  declaration. 
Large  place  is  given  in  the  same  connection  to 
the  duty  of  members  to  pastors  in  several  particu- 
lars, of  which  the  sixth  and  last  is :  "  contributing 
toward  their  maintenance,  that  they  may  attend 
wholly   on   teaching,   and   give   themselves   to   the 


4  STEWARDSHIP    AMONG   BAPTISTS 

ministry  of  the  word  and  to  prayer."  This  is 
enforced  by  three  considerations,  the  last  one  being 
that  "  the  gospel  enjoins  and  requires  the  same.'' 
Here  they  cite  passages  of  Scripture,  and  insist  that 
the  support  of  the  ministry  is  "  a  duty  required  of 
God  himself,  and  that  not  in  a  way  of  alms,  as  to 
the  poor,  which  is  another  standing  ordinance  of 
Christ,  but  is  to  be  performed  in  love  to  Christ,  and 
obedience  to  his  laws,  in  order  to  support  and  carry 
the  interest  of  the  gospel."  Further  on  they  partly 
answer  the  question  of  how  that  other  standing  law 
of  Christ,  provision  for  the  needy,  is  to  be  executed, 
in  this  statement:  "The  liberality  of  the  people  (if 
they  be  able)  should  surmount  the  necessity  of  the 
minister,  so  as  that  he  may  exercise  those  acts  of 
love  and  hospitality,  as  is  required  of  such,  that 
therein  he  may  be  exemplary  in  good  works,  etc. 
Moreover,  it  is  a  duty  on  all  those  that  attend  on 
their  ministry,  to  assist  herein."  That  is  to  say,  it 
is  the  duty  of  every  member  to  contribute  to  the 
support  of  the  minister  sufficiently  to  relieve  him  of 
financial  anxiety,  and  also  to  supply  him  a  surplus 
beyond  his  own  needs  which  he  may  use  in  charity 
and  hospitality  as  the  representative  of  the  church. 
That  was  their  duplex  system  according  to  the  style 
of  the  time  and  to  the  limit  of  their  outlook  for 
church  expenditure. 

This  exhibition  of  the  primal  position  of  the  Bap- 
tists touching  the  duty  to  use  property  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  so  fuUv  set 


HISTORICAL  5 

out  because  it  is  basal,  and  because  it  is  liable  to 
be  forgotten  or  ignored.  The  understanding  seems 
to  be  quite  widely  extended  that  they  had  no  clear 
or  adequate  conception  of  this  obligation,  but  their 
conception  was  as  clear  and  as  adequate  for  the 
whole  field  of  church  life,  as  then  open  to  them 
by  their  conditions  and  interpretations,  as  it  is  now 
among  their  successors.  History  reveals  some  things 
incompatible  with  the  fixed  foundation  laid  by  them, 
as  well  as  other  things  seemingly  incompatible  but 
not  so,  or  so  only  in  a  modified  way.  Their  slow- 
ness and  clumsiness  in  working  out  their  principle 
into  more  elaborate  applications  was  true  of  all  their 
life.  They  were  restrained  by  a  conservatism  that 
was  largely  linked  to  fundamental  convictions ;  they 
paused  often  and  looked  around  carefully  in  these 
things  because  that  was  their  way  in  all  things ;  they 
were  particular,  and  sometimes  possibly  perverted, 
in  their  expansions  of  organization  and  endeavor, 
by  a  sensitiveness  for  freedom  and  a  suspicion  of 
centralization,  which  was  justified  by  their  experi- 
ences, the  forces  confronting  them  and  certain  perils 
and  possible  disasters  fairly  within  the  range  of 
their  two  eyes,  common  sense,  and  doctrinal  sound- 
ness. But  they  never  repudiated  the  original  prin- 
ciple of  stewardship  in  material  things,  for  the  ade- 
quate support  of  the  ministry  as  the  agent  of  the 
church  in  the  pulpit  and  beyond,  for  the  promulga- 
tion of  sound  doctrine,  and  the  distribution  of 
sweet  charity. 

B 


O  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

But  we  must  recognize  that  the  Baptists,  through- 
out the  eighteenth  century  and  well  into  the  nine- 
teenth, to  say  nothing  of  later  times,  fell  short  in  the 
application  of  their  standing  principle  of  steward- 
ship in  money.  With  eminent  exceptions,  increasing 
through  the  years,  they  were  comparatively  de- 
ficient not  only  in  the  maintenance  of  the  ministry 
of  the  word,  but  in  the  housing  of  the  churches  and 
otherwise.  So  do  they  seem  to  have  stood  in  con- 
trast with  their  brethren  of  later  times  in  this  par- 
ticular that  we  may  be  excusable  for  being  ashamed 
of  them.  They  were  a  virile  host,  spreading  over 
the  land,  with  all  the  opportunities  that  others  had 
for  the  accumulation  of  property,  and  as  they  in- 
creased in  numbers  they  increased  in  resources. 
Still  the  conviction  cannot  be  escaped  that  in  this 
particular  they  were  perhaps  the  most  backward 
among  the  Christian  bodies.  But  they  were  not 
stingy  or  stupid.  They  were  at  the  front  in  all 
frontier  hospitalities  and  enterprises,  warm-hearted 
and  open-handed  in  their  homes  toward  their 
preachers,  and  earnestly  devoted  to  their  churches 
socially  and  doctrinally.  We  may  criticize  and 
condemn  them,  but  cautiously.  From  our  advanced 
altitude,  which  may  not  be  so  far  advanced  as  the 
optimistic  think,  we  cannot  safely  hand  out  offhand 
fulminations  or  indulge  in  hasty  quips  of  sarcasm. 
It  may  be  safer  for  us  to  listen  to  the  statements 
of  those  who  stood  nearer  to  them,  and  who,  while 
disapproving  their  recognized  deficiency,  could  dis- 


HISTORICAL  7 

CUSS  them  more  intelligently  and  sympathetically 
than  we  are  able  to  do. 

Dr.  David  Benedict  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century  seems  to  have  been  more  widely 
and  intimately  acquainted  with  the  Baptists  of  the 
whole  country  than  any  other  person.  In  i860  he 
published  his  "  Fifty  Years  Among  the  Baptists,"  in 
which  he  doubtless  gave  a  very  just  description  of 
them  as  they  were  up  to  and  through  the  period  of 
missionary  inspiration  and  enlargement  that  came 
to  them  when  he  was  young.  Having  spoken  of  the 
self-supporting  character  of  the  ministers,  chiefly 
as  farmers,  and  their  success  in  often  becoming 
wealthy,  for  the  times,  while  planting  churches  in 
the  wilderness,  he  says :  "  It  is  a  well-known  fact 
that  a  half-century  since  most  of  our  ministers, 
everywhere,  were  under  the  necessity  of  laboring 
and  planning  for  their  own  support,  and  that  the 
Baptists  generally  were  more  parsimonious  in  their 
doings  in  this  line  than  almost  any  other  party  in 
the  country.  .  .  The  great  mass  of  our  ministers 
then  had  no  settled  income  for  their  services,  and 
where  moderate  sums  were  pledged,  in  too  many 
cases  they  were  slowly  paid,  if  paid  at  all." 

The  first  comprehensive  discussion  of  denomina- 
tional finances  in  the  Philadelphia  Association,  and 
probably  anywhere,  was  in  1814.  This  was  a  few 
months  after  the  founding  of  the  General  Conven- 
tion for  Foreign  Missions,  amid  the  stirring  of 
missionary  interest  throughout  the  country.     This 


8  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

discussion  occupied  the  circular  letter,  written  by 
William  White,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church,  Phila- 
delphia. It  evidently  expressed  the  careful  judg- 
ment not  only  of  the  author,  but  also  of  other  able 
leaders,  if  not  of  all  the  people.  It  says,  "  No 
preachers  perhaps  in  the  Union  are  so  poorly  pro- 
vided for  as  our  own,"  and  our  houses  are  burdened 
with  debts.  Some  extenuation  is  in  the  fact  that 
we  cannot  use  some  financial  methods  open  to  others, 
in  consequence  of  our  sentiments  on  liberty  and 
spirituality.  "  The  charge  of  penuriousness  against 
the  Baptists  is  partly  true  and  partly  false."  Some 
give  beyond  their  means ;  others,  individuals  and 
churches,  shirk.  "  The  remedy  is  that  our  brethren 
be  frequently  admonished  of  their  duty  in  this  par- 
ticular, and  methods  the  most  equal  and  least 
oppressive  be  adopted." 

Accepting  as  highly  trustworthy  these  testimonies 
of  Benedict  and  White,  we  yet  may  be  justified  in 
seeking  both  verification  and  modification  of  them. 
To  do  this  extensively  would  be  burdensome  and 
perhaps  superfluous.  But  briefly  we  may  run  our 
eye  along  a  single  line  of  records  that  are  consider- 
ably illuminating  and  equally  representative.  The 
Philadelphia  Association,  throughout  the  first  cen- 
tury of  its  existence,  was  the  formative  center  of  the 
denomination.  For  forty-four  years  it  stood  alone 
as  a  general  organization,  including  approximately 
all  the  churches ;  and  when  other  associations  arose, 
they  sprang  quite  intimately  from  it  and  were  much 


HISTORICAL  9 

molded  in  principles  and  practices  by  it.  Neces- 
sarily, then,  if  we  get  a  reasonably  full  and  fair 
view  of  financial  stewardship  in  it,  from  1707  to 
1814,  we  get  a  like  view  of  the  whole  Baptist  fellow- 
ship.   To  its  records  we  now  turn. 

THE    GENERAL    PRINCIPLE 

Opening  up  the  records  concerning  the  general 
duty  to  regard  property  as  a  trust  fund  for  service 
we  find  only  a  little.  But  the  meagerness  of  tTie 
material  may  mislead  us  as  to  the  prevalence  of  the 
principle.  Several  things  may  be  recalled.  One 
is  that  the  Discipline,  which  taught  as  we  have 
already  observed,  was  in  general  use.  Another  is 
that  the  broad  line  of  indoctrination  by  the  Asso- 
ciation, in  the  circular  letters  from  1774  to  1798, 
followed  the  topics  of  the  Confession,  in  which  no 
mention  is  made  of  this  subject.  Another  is  that 
the  Association  was  slow  to  express  its  views  except 
as  called  out  by  queries  from  the  churches,  and 
queries  of  this  character  did  not  multiply.  Another 
is  that  the  churches  did  not  have  much  money  avail- 
able for  any  kind  of  consideration.  These  facts 
combine  to  notify  us  not  to  expect  extended  discus- 
sion of  this  principle,  even  if  the  people  had  been 
more  responsive  tban  they  were  to  the  calls  in  their 
Discipline  and  in  their  own  convictions.  They  were 
conscious  of  more  need  of  advice  on  various  other 
problems,  and  the  Association,  having  nothing  but 
advice,  directed  that  to  the  inquiries  of  the  people. 


10  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

The  "  Pastoral  Address,"  or  circular  letter,  of 
1762  was  the  first  to  lead  out  in  this  way.  These 
letters,  brief  as  they  are,  reiterate  almost  to  tedious- 
ness,  the  duties  of  daily  life  in  the  home  and  the 
community,  private  and  family  prayer,  religious  in- 
struction of  children,  integrity  and  kindness  gener- 
ally, and  faithfulness  to  the  church  in  attendance 
and  fellowship.  To  these  they  often  add  appeals 
to  the  churches  to  encourage  and  support  their  min- 
isters in  going  out  to  the  needy  with  the  gospel. 
Possibly  this  was  understood  more  or  less  to  in- 
clude financial  aid  in  that  kind  of  work,  but  for  a 
long  time  it  was  not  so  recorded.  But  this  year, 
although  the  letter  is  not  long,  it  reaches  out  against 
covetousness,  as  follows :  "  Strengthen  the  hands  of 
your  ministers,  and  be  liberal  of  your  ministerial 
gifts  to  vacant  places.  Banish  everything  low,  and 
sordid  conduct,  the  native  product  of  groveling 
minds,  as  being  unworthy  of  the  noble  character 
of  a  Christian.  Let  a  public  spirit  of  benevolence 
and  liberality  be  diffused  among  you.  Be  more  am- 
bitious of  advancing  the  interests  of  the  church  of 
Christ  than  of  adding  field  to  field,  and  becoming 
rich  at  the  expense  of  religion." 

In  1790  the  letter  discussed  "  Good  Works."  It 
reached  the  use  of  property  by  way  of  the  duties 
of  the  ministers,  from  a  statement  of  which  it  pro- 
ceeded to  say :  "  But  in  return  you  must  consider 
it  as  your  incumbent  duty  to  strengthen  their  hands 
for  this  good  work,  by  affording  them  a  competent 


HISTORICAL  II 

supply  of  the  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  life. 
For  if  they  have  sown  unto  you  spiritual  things,  is 
it  a  great  thing  if  they  should  reap  your  carnal 
things  ?  And  can  it  be  said  that  you  have  diligently 
followed  every  good  work  if  you  suffer  your  minis- 
ters to  live  in  indigence,  and  their  minds  be  per- 
plexed for  the  want  of  those  enjoyments  of  which 
God  has  granted  you  a  rich  supply?  Provide 
houses  decent  and  convenient  for  the  public  worship 
of  God.  Is  it  fit  for  the  servants  of  the  Most  High 
to  dwell  in  their  ceiled  houses,  and  to  let  the  house 
where  his  Honor  dwells,  and  where  his  adorable 
Majesty  is  addressed,  to  lie  waste?  Pay  proper 
attention  to  the  poor,  but  especially  endeavor  to  re- 
lieve the  wants  of  your  needy  brethren  and  sisters. 
It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive ;  for  they 
who  give  to  the  poor  lend  to  the  Lord.'' 

In  1 80 1  came  the  impressive  letter  opening  the 
century  with  the  first  world-wide  view  of  the  Asso- 
ciation expressed  in  its  records.  On  the  theme  of 
most  comprehensive  missions,  these  sentences 
marshal :  "  We  hope  better  things  of  you  than  to 
suppose  that  you  are  negligent  in  prayer  for  the 
coming  of  Christ's  kingdom ;  yet  we  cannot  but  con- 
clude, from  solid  grounds,  that  together  with  im- 
portunity at  the  throne  of  grace,  pecuniary  exertions 
for  the  diffusion  of  the  gospel  are  particularly  neces- 
sary. ,  .  Let  each  one  act  conscientiously,  according 
to  the  magnitude  of  the  object  and  the  ability  God 
has  given.  .  .  We  are  in  danger  of  becoming  worldly- 


12  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

minded,  and  by  eagerly  pursuing  the  accumulation 
of  wealth,  giving  the  lie  to  our  profession  of  love  to 
Christ,  his  people,  and  his  laws." 

During  the  three  years  preceding  the  appearance 
of  Luther  Rice  in  this  country  for  the  promotion  of 
the  Eastern  mission,  several  actions  of  the  Asso- 
ciation throw  significant  sidelights  on  the  broaden- 
ing of  the  pressure  of  the  stewardship  conception 
in  practical  applications.  In  1810  the  Second 
Church  in  Philadelphia  called  the  Association's  at- 
tention to  the  great  lack  of  ministers  and  houses  of 
worship,  submitting  to  its  "  serious  investigation  " 
two  queries :  ( i )  "Is  there  nothing  in  the  practice 
of  other  societies  [denominations],  or  of  our  breth- 
ren abroad  [English  in  India]  worthy  of  our  imita- 
tion?" (2)  "If  not,  is  there  no  other  expedient 
which,  consistent  with  the  gospel,  can  be  devised  to 
afiford  the  necessary  aid?  "  In  181 1  it  was  proposed, 
in  view  of  the  need  of  ministers,  that  the  churches 
"  use  the  most  liberal  endeavors  to  obtain  "  pastors. 
This  seems  to  mean  better  pay.  Touching  the  sup- 
port of  the  ministry  and  the  erection  of  houses  of 
worship,  it  was  believed  that  "  small  regular  and 
annual  subscriptions  from  all  the  members,  in  all 
the  churches,  and  from  such  members  of  the  con- 
gregation as  may  incline  to  assist,  will  meet  exist- 
ing exigencies."  The  great  letter  of  18 14,  analyzing 
this  subject  into  ten  divisions  and  all  abreast  of  the 
better  sentiment  of  to-day,  when  writing  "  on  feel- 
ing the  doing  of  this  a  duty,"  said :  "  Let  us  labor  to 


HISTORICAL  13 

impress  this  thought  on  our  minds,  that  we  are  under 
solemn  obhgations  to  impart  a  suitable  portion  of 
our  goods  to  religious  and  charitable  uses.  Let  us 
try  to  feel  that  we  are  performing  an  act  of  worship 
to  God  in  so  doing,  that  we  may  in  no  wise  leave 
undone,  and  that  if  so  left  God  will  require  it  of  us." 


The  first  attempt  of  the  Association  to  secure 
funds  from  the  churches  was  in  1750.  This  is  the 
record :  "  The  Association,  taking  into  consideration 
the  advantages  and  benefits  that  will  arise  to  the 
interests  of  religion  and  the  cause  we  profess,  from 
a  public  fund  or  stock  in  bank,  well  regulated,  has 
concluded  to  acquaint  the  several  congregations  we 
belong  to  with  the  proposal,  that  if  it  seem  meet  to 
them  to  further  so  good  a  purpose,  by  sending  in 
yearly  such  sums  as  the  Lord  shall  bless  them  with, 
and  incline  their  hearts  to  contribute,  that  a  begin- 
ning be  made  against  next  year."  For  the  date  at 
which  it  appeared  this  was  an  extraordinary  proposal. 
The  Association  then  had  no  use  for  money  so  far  as 
its  records  show  any  activity  needing  financial  sup- 
port. It  lacked  five  years  of  its  first  simple  mis- 
sionary movement  and  six  years  of  its  inauguration 
of  educational  endeavor.  It  had  not  even  begun  to 
print  its  brief  records.  It  was  so  far  barely,  or  but 
little  more  than,  a  committee  or  council  to  express 
the  fellowship  of  the  independent  churches  and  give 
them  such  advice  as  they  asked.    Hitherto  everything 


14  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

beyond  that  had  been  left  to  the  churches  acting 
individually. 

But  in  its  small  company  there  were  some  great 
men,  who  had  already  begun  to  move  out  per- 
sonally along  lines  of  expansion — Abel  Morgan, 
Benjamin  Miller,  Peter  Van  Horn,  John  Thomas, 
Benjamin  Griffith,  Jenkin  Jones,  and  others,  men 
of  vision,  whose  souls  were  stirred  with  the  sense 
of  coming  events  and  sober  enthusiasm  for  achieve- 
ment in  them.  Their  proposal  no  doubt  had  been 
under  consideration  among  them  previously,  and 
now  they  thought  the  time  ripe  to  send  it  on  to 
the  churches.  The  natural  way  for  them  to  have 
started  financial  cooperation  may  seem  to  have  been 
by  proposing  some  small  enterprise  and  testing  the 
people  through  a  call  for  aid  in  it.  But  tlieir  pro- 
posal was  to  begin  an  accumulation  for  undefined 
need  in  an  indefinite  future.  And  they  got  nothing, 
so  far  as  the  records  show.  People  who  have  never 
made  up  a  common  purse  and  who  have  exceedingly 
little  with  which  to  make  it,  are  not  apt  to  be  eager 
to  contribute  without  any  definite  proposal  in  sight. 
The  leaders  may  not  have  shown  very  marked 
common  sense  in  this  move,  but  they  did  show  clear 
prescience  of  a  future  that  would  require  resources 
in  reserve. 

In  1755  the  Association  passed  beyond  asking  the 
churches  to  send  their  pastors  into  destitute  regions, 
and  appointed  two  preachers  to  visit  North  Carolina 
as  missionaries.    These  men  had  been  southward  on 


HISTORICAL  15 

their  own  account  previously,  doing  what  the  Asso- 
ciation had  long  been  urging  the  churches  to  sup- 
port the  pastors  in  doing.  The  appointment  is 
followed  by  this  clause,  "  the  several  churches  to 
contribute  to  bear  their  expense."  The  result  is  not 
reported.  Probably  a  report  was  not  expected,  but 
the  funds  were  to  go  directly  to  the  missionaries. 
The  first  attempt  to  found  a  fund  may  have  de- 
veloped opposition  on  the  ground  of  propriety. 
Whatever  looked  like  setting  up  a  central  authority 
was  a  red  flag  to  Baptists  then.  The  leaders  per- 
haps were  not  so  much  afraid  of  it,  since  they  were 
to  manage  the  fund,  but  some  of  the  people  may 
have  been  shy,  and  not  much  protest  was  necessary 
to  call  a  halt. 

The  silence  ensuing  after  the  effort  of  1750  con- 
tinued unbroken  until  1766.  In  the  meantime  sev- 
eral things  had  occurred :  Morgan  Edwards  had 
come;  tables  of  church  statistics  in  membership 
had  begun  to  appear;  the  Minutes  of  the  Associa- 
tion had  reached  the  printer;  thirty  churches  had 
been  enrolled,  with  over  two  thousand,  two  hundred 
members ;  enlargement  and  advancement  were  stir- 
ring thought  in  many  ways ;  contributions  for  charity 
and  education  had  been  secured;  and  all  things 
were  ready  for  the  renewal  of  the  proposal  of 
fifteen  years  before.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
churches  take  quarterly  collections  for  a  fund  to  be 
invested  by  trustees,  "  the  interest  whereof  only  to  be 
laid  out  every  year  in  support  of  ministers  traveling 


l6  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

on  the  errand  of  the  churches,  or  otherwise,  as  the 
necessities  of  said  churches  shall  require."  Thir- 
teen churches  responded  with  two  hundred  and  ten 
dollars,  and  it  was  resolved  "  to  continue  a  collec- 
tion every  quarter  for  the  said  fund."  How  far 
this  proposal,  sometimes  repeated,  was  effectuated  in 
detail  is  not  known.  But  for  the  nine  years  next 
succeeding,  contributions  by  the  churches  for  the 
associational  fund  were  reported,  the  annual 
amounts  running  from  twenty  to  ninety-five  dollars. 

The  tenth  year  was  1776,  in  which  the  prominent 
item  of  the  records  is  that  touching  "  the  awful  im- 
pending calamities  of  these  times,"  and  the  recom- 
mendation of  quarterly  days  of  humiliation,  prayer, 
and  fasting,  with  nothing  about  the  fund.  The 
presence  of  the  British  in  Philadelphia  prevented 
the  meeting  of  the  Association  in  1777.  From  this 
time  on  this  fund  does  not  appear,  unless  in  1778 
and  1779,  r.nder  the  title  of  "  Continental  Fund." 
In  these  years  settlement  was  made  with  the  retiring 
treasurer,  who  turned  over  two  funds,  one  of  which 
was  a  "  balance,"  not  otherwise  designated,  which 
was  slightly  more  than  the  Association  fund  so  far 
as  reported,  and  for  the  existence  of  which  no  other 
explanation  seems  to  be  suggested  than  that  it'  was 
the  same.^ 

An  action  of  1778,  midway  of  the  war,  reveals 
the  missionary  spirit  in  financial  garb.  It  is  this: 
"  A  motion  being  made  for  raising  a  fund,  the 
interest  of  which  to  be  appropriated  to  the  par- 


HISTORICAL  17 

ticular  and  express  purpose  of  preaching  the  gospel 
in  destitute  places,  among  the  back  settlements,  at 
the  direction  of  the  Association;  agreed  to  recom- 
mend the  same  to  the  churches,  and  that  the  in- 
terest of  whatever  may  be  raised  for  that  purpose 
shall  be  strictly  appropriated  to  that  purpose  only." 
This  action  seems  to  show  dissatisfaction  with  the 
use  that  had  been  partly  made  of  the  income  from 
the  Association  fund.  From  the  beginning  it  had 
been  used  for  missionary  purposes  mainly,  if  not 
entirely.  But  the  men  who  had  been  sent  out 
by  its  aid,  especially  the  more  conspicuous,  the  "  con- 
tinental "  evangelists,  had  not  given  themselves  ex- 
clusively, possibly  not  chiefly,  to  the  destitute  places 
and  back  settlements.  This  new  movement  was,  if 
not  a  protest  against  the  preceding  use  of  the  Asso- 
ciation fund,  at  least  a  provision  for  something  more 
helpful  for  the  most  destitute.  The  results  of  this 
effort  are  not  known.  The  conditions  were  excep- 
tionally unfavorable. 

Throughout  the  remainder  of  the  war  and  after- 
ward till  1792,  no  record  of  any  financial  action  in 
relation  to  missions  was  made.  In  this  last  year  the 
recommendation  was  that  the  churches  immediately 
raise  a  sum  sufficient  to  meet  the  expenses  of  three 
preachers  who  proposed  a  campaign  in  the  interior 
of  Pennsylvania;  result  not  stated.  Two  years 
later  the  foreign  mission  enterprise  of  the  Baptists 
of  England  was  recognized  and  provision  made  for 
receiving    and    forwarding   money    for    that    cause. 


l8  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG    BAPTISTS 

With  little  exception,  this  interest  was  kept  before 
the  people  in  succeeding  years,  but  the  home  work 
dropped  out  of  sight  or,  rather  remained  out  of 
sight,  as  it  had  been  almost  totally  for  fifteen  years, 
so  far  as  gifts  of  money  are  concerned,  though  aid 
in  simple  ways  by  supplies  continued.  In  1800,  how- 
ever, the  plan  for  a  fund  to  assist  preachers  who 
should  help  weak  churches  and  evangelize  the  desti- 
tute was  revived,  and  the  next  year  four  churches 
responded  with  forty-six  dollars.  The  record  seems 
to  show  that  this  contribution  was  to  be  used  at 
once,  not  invested.  In  1802  it  was  recommended 
that  each  church  appoint  a  day  for  having  a  mis- 
sionary sermon  preached  and  taking  a  collection  for 
that  cause.  In  1803  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
inquire  into  the  expenses  of  ministers  who  had 
"  visited  churches  for  two  years  past,"  and  the 
plan  of  a  missionary  society  was  commended.  This 
was  organized  in  1804,  and  took  over  the  home  mis- 
sion operations  from  the  Association,  which,  how- 
ever, published  the  society's  reports  and  advocated 
its  claims,  resulting  in  the  accumulation  of  $1,388 
by  1814,  so  far  as  reported  in  the  Association.  In 
1810  the  annual  sermon  of  the  society  was  incor- 
porated in  the  program  of  the  Association,  pre- 
sumably with  a  collection;  and  in  181 1  "  The  Asso- 
ciation recommends  that  the  collections  raised  at 
the  several  churches  in  the  city,  on  Wednesday  eve- 
ning of  Association  Week,  be  appropriated  to  the 
Missionary  Society." 


HISTORICAL 


EDUCATION 


In  1722  the  Association  instituted  inquiry,  through 
the  churches,  for  "  any  young  persons  hopeful  for 
the  ministry,  and  incHnable  to  learning."  The  pur- 
pose, however,  seems  not  to  have  been  to  contribute 
aid  to  such  persons,  but  to  commend  them  for  assist- 
ance to  ]\Ir.  Hollis,  the  generous  Baptist  of  England, 
whose  benefactions  to  education  in  America  linked 
his  name  with  several  lines  of  educational  activity 
here.  Evidence  is  not  found  that  the  Philadelphia, 
or  other  American,  Baptists  gave  anything  in  that 
connection. 

In  1756,  with  seeming  abruptness,  but  doubtless 
as  the  product  of  careful  consideration  through  pre- 
ceding years,  an  action  appears  in  the  record.  It 
reveals  the  purpose  "  to  raise  a  sum  of  money  to- 
ward the  encouragement  of  a  Latin  grammar  school 
for  the  promotion  of  learning  among  us."  It  was  to 
be  "  under  the  care  of  Isaac  Eaton,"  a  pastor  who 
founded  the  school  and  became  its  principal.  It 
was  also  under  "  the  inspection  "  of  four  eminent 
ministers  in  the  Association.  This  guaranteed  it  to 
the  churches  as  worthy  and  safe  for  investment. 
Among  the  pupils  who  soon  sought  its  privileges  were 
some  who  became  valuable  leaders.  The  next  year 
and  the  year  following  the  churches  were  called  "  to 
contribute  their  mites  toward  its  support."  In  1761 
a  letter  to  Baptists  in  England  reported  this  academy 
as  promising,  and  further  prefaced  a  call  for  Eastern 


20  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

aid  by  the  statement  that  it  had  "  no  more  than 
twenty-four  pounds  a  year  toward  its  support."  This 
sum,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars,  prob- 
ably represented  the  contributions  in  the  preceding 
five  years  toward  its  endowment.  Here  the  academy 
drops  out  of  sight  until  1797,  when  the  trustees 
of  this  fund  asked  that  they  might  be  discharged 
and  the  fund  turned  over  to  the  trustees  of  the  As- 
sociation, who,  having  the  management  of  other 
funds  for  the  same  purpose,  could  handle  the  whole 
as  one  to  better  advantage  than  the  two  bodies  of 
trustees  could  separately.  This  adjustment  was 
made,  but  no  information  appears  of  the  amount 
transferred.  Whence  came  this  other  fund?  Some 
of  it  may  have  come  from  living  contributors, 
though  we  have  no  evidence  of  this,  the  Minutes 
showing  nothing  of  the  transactions  of  the  trustees 
of  the  Association. 

But  they  run  quite  clear  and  full  concerning  an- 
other fund  arising  from  a  legacy  left  in  1767,  or 
earlier,  to  the  Association  for  ministerial  education 
by  Mrs.  Hubbs,  of  Hopewell,  N.  J.;  for  this  year 
income  from  it  was  disposed  of  by  the  Association. 
The  property  was  partly,  and  perhaps  wholly,  real 
estate.  Whenever  Mrs.  Hubbs  may  have  passed 
away,  her  benefaction  had  been  made  to  yield, 
in  1767,  at  least  seventy  dollars,  for  this  amount 
was  appropriated  to  Charles  Thompson,  a  student  in 
Rhode  Island  College.  For  about  ten  years  fol- 
lowing,  with  an  occasional   omission,  this   income. 


HISTORICAL  21 

being  at  first  seventy,  and  later  ninety  dollars,  was 
appropriated  to  various  students  for  the  ministry, 
either  in  Hopewell  Academy  or  Rhode  Island  Col- 
lege. This  brings  us  into  the  midst  of  the  war, 
when  depression  and  disorder  became  conspicuous 
in  nearly  all  things.  And  in  1779  "  the  money  of 
Mrs.  Hubbs'  donation,"  $1,145,  was  placed  in  the 
"  Continental  Fund." 

In  1764  Rhode  Island  College,  then  contemplated, 
appeared  in  the  records,  and  the  opinion  was  ex- 
pressed that  "  the  churches  should  be  liberal  in  con- 
tributing toward  carrying  the  same  into  execution." 
Two  years  later  this  sentiment'  was  repeated,  and 
the  next  succeeding  year  the  churches  were  "  to 
forward  the  subscriptions  for  Rhode  Island  Col- 
lege," implying  that  such  was  known  to  be  in  hand 
or  in  sight.  In  1769  it  was  resolved  that  moneys 
raised  in  the  Middle  Provinces  should  be  invested  in 
these  Provinces,  the  interest  to  be  taken  out  only  on 
order  of  the  college  "  to  pay  the  president's  salary." 
In  1774  a  plan  originally  adopted  by  the  Charleston 
Association  was  commended,  the  funds  to  be  sent  to 
Rhode  Island;  two  contributions,  each  of  less  than 
five  dollars,  were  reported,  and  the  statement  was 
made  that  ''  the  church  at  New  York  raised  above 
what  was  proposed  by  the  plan  adopted,"  but  the 
amount  was  not  recorded.  In  1782  a  call  went  forth 
for  participation  in  the  general  movement  to  get 
the  college  into  operation  after  the  war,  during 
which  its  operations  had  been  suspended. 


22  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

The  legacy  of  Mrs.  Hubbs  did  not  remain  alone. 
During  that  century  three  others  came  before  the 
Association.  The  first  of  these  appeared  in  1782, 
having  originated  three  years  earlier.  At  that  date 
John  Honeywell,  of  Knowlton,  N.  J.,  left  "  the  whole 
of  his  estate  for  the  education  of  poor  children  in 
that  neighborhood."  His  original  design  probably 
was  to  place  this  gift  in  the  Association  fund,  but 
it  finally  took  the  other  course,  three  prominent 
Baptist  ministers  being  made  trustees  in  addition 
to  two  local  executors.  Both  the  will  and  the  his- 
tory of  the  plant  are  somewhat  mixed,  but  the  school 
has  continued  till  the  present  under  the  direction 
of  the  Association.  At  its  Centennial,  1898,  the 
fund  amounted  to  more  than  six  thousand,  five  hun- 
dred dollars,  in  addition  to  school  buildings. 

The  other  two  legacies  have  not'  come  to  so  good 
a  showing.  One  of  them  was  a  devise  in  1787  by 
Reese  Jones,  of  Delaware,  "  to  the  ministers  of  this 
Association  for  the  education  of  young  men,"  pre- 
sumably for  the  ministry.  In  that  year  the  Associa- 
tion appointed  representatives  for  the  "  recovery  " 
of  that  estate,  pledging  itself  to  bear  the  expense. 
The  next  year  this  pledge  was  repeated,  but  no 
progress  reported  in  "  attempting  t'o  recover  the 
estate,"  beyond  which  no  reference  to  it  appears. 
The  other  attempt,  seemingly  unsuccessful,  to  secure 
demised  property,  is  brought  to  light  in  1792,  in  these 
words :  "  Whereas  there  is  or  ought  to  be  a  con- 
siderable   sum   of   money    in   the   hands   of   heirs, 


HISTORICAL  23 

executors,  or  administrators  of  the  late  Isaac  Jones, 
Esq.,  belonging  to  the  funds  of  the  grammar  school 
under  the  direction  of  this  Association,  the  amount 
of  which  is  at  present  uncertain,"  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  use  all  necessary  means  to  secure  the 
same.  After  this  silence  reigns.  The  fair  infer- 
ence is  that  all  of  these  two  legacies  was  lost,  as 
part  of  the  Honeywell  was. 

It  is  thus  made  clear  that  prior  to  1795  four 
legacies  were  left  to  the  Philadelphia  Association 
for  education,  in  three  kinds — ^general,  ministerial, 
and  poor  children.  It  is  also  evident  that  the  Asso- 
ciation and  its  churches  were  actively  interested,  to 
an  extent  now  undefinable,  in  behalf  of  all  these 
kinds  of  education  within  its  own  borders,  as  well 
as  for  the  Rhode  Island  College,  in  connection  with 
general  movements  in  that  interest. 

Going  back  a  few  years  we  find  the  inception  of 
another  movement  in  the  Association  toward  min- 
isterial education.  In  1789,  conference  on  "the 
necessity  and  importance  of  raising  a  fund  for  the 
education  of  pious  and  promising  young  men  for. 
the  ministry  "  led  to  the  starting  of  subscriptions  in 
the  churches  for  that  purpose,  the  persons  present 
agreeing  to  promote  the  effort  and  bring  the  results 
to  the  next  annual  meeting  for  the  disposal  of  the 
body.  At  the  same  time  they  became  responsible 
for  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  in  aid  of 
Silas  Walton,  who  was  to  be  taught  by  Dr.  Samuel 
Jones ;  the  student  giving  bonds  to  return  the  money 


24  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

within  seven  years  "  if  he  should  not  become  a 
minister  of  our  order  within  that  time,  and  con- 
tinue therein."  This  Walton  program  was  con- 
tinued the  following  year,  with  the  encouragement 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  from  ten  churches. 
The  next  year  showed  a  falling  off  in  contributions 
to  fifty  dollars  and  the  taking  on  of  another  bene- 
ficiary, for  whom  the  surplus  of  the  preceding  year 
was  appropriated.  Here  information  of  this  kind 
ceases  till  1800,  when  another  youth  is  recognized, 
and  a  call  sent  out  to  meet  his  needs,  resulting  in 
sixty  dollars  from  five  churches.  The  next  year 
sixty-five  dollars  came  from  six  churches,  and  the 
Association  proposed  that  an  annual  sermon  be 
preached  in  the  churches  in  connection  with  effort 
to  secure  funds  for  ministerial  education.  For  the 
four  years  next  following,  1803-1806,  contributions 
to  this  cause  are  reported,  ranging  from  fifty-three 
to  eighty-four  dollars  annually.  Then  follows  a 
blank  for  several  years  except'  1809,  when  seven 
dollars  is  in  sight. 

THE   ASSOCIATION    LIBRARY 

For  more  than  fifty  years  the  Association  owned 
a  library  to  which  it  contributed  a  small  amount  for 
care  and  repairs.  No  record  remains  of  any  other 
investment  in  it.  This  library  was  for  the  use  of 
ministers  destitute  of  books  or  but  poorly  supplied 
witli  them.  It  was  probably  the  first  circulating 
library  among  Baptists  in  America.     Appropriated 


HISTORICAL  25 

to  the  use  of  ministers  only,  it  may  be  listed  under 
ministerial  education.  It  originated  in  a  gift  of 
books  by  Mr.  Hollis,  of  England.  The  first  refer- 
ence to  it  in  the  Minutes  of  the  Association  was 
in  1761,  when  two  brethren  were  appointed  libra- 
rians to  receive  and  circulate  "  the  books  that  were 
sometime  since  sent  to  us  by  Mr.  Thomas  Hollis." 
In  a  communication  of  the  same  date  to  "  The  Board 
of  Ministers  in  London,"  the  Association,  after  ap- 
pealing for  aid  for  the  academy,  wrote,  "  We  have 
also  of  late  endeavored  to  form  a  library  at  Phila- 
delphia," for  which  it  was  intimated  that  assist- 
ance would  be  welcome.  This  suggests  that  possibly 
the  Americans  had  contributed  something  to  the 
Hollis  foundation. 

For  the  next  nineteen  years  nothing  on  this  sub- 
ject appears,  when  a  librarian  was  named  to  collect 
and  distribute  the  books.  He,  William  Van  Horn, 
made  a  written  report,  which  was  filed,  and  a  com- 
mittee was  instructed  to  examine  the  books  with 
reference  to  repairs,  and  report.  This  report  ap- 
peared a  year  later,  1784,  stating  that  the  bindings 
had  been  repaired  and  that  eighteen  dollars  re- 
mained of  the  money  previously  provided  for  this 
purpose.  This  surplus  was  appropriated  partly  to 
Van  Horn  "  for  his  superintendence  of  said  busi- 
ness "  and  partly  to  postage.  Excepting  the  claim 
of  the  First  Church  in  Philadelphia  that  some  books 
belonging  to  it  had  been  absorbed  by  the  Associa- 
tion's library,  nothing  is  heard  on  this  subject  until 


26  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

1807,  when  a  proposal  was  approved  to  distribute 
the  books  among  the  churches  as  soon  as  they  could 
be  collected  in  order  to  relieve  the  Association  of 
the  care  of  them. 

The  last  entry  on  this  subject  was  in  1812:  "  x\s 
the  books  of  the  Philadelphia  Association  were 
originally  given  by  our  English  brethren  with  a 
view  of  affording  help  to  our  churches  in  this 
country  when  themselves  and  the  country  were  in 
a  state  of  infancy,  now  that  the  Lord  has  greatly 
increased  us,  and  books  and  information  are  gen- 
erally within  our  reach,  we  submit  to  the  churches 
of  this  Association,  and  to  those  recently  formed 
out  of  us  into  an  Association  in  New  Jersey,  whether 
it  would  not  answer  fully  the  pious  designs  of  the 
donors,  and  be  on  our  part  a  service  as  grateful 
to  ourselves  as  profitable  to  our  brethren  in  the 
new  settlements  in  the  back  countries  where  books 
are  exceedingly  scarce,  were  we  to  distribute  the 
library  among  them  for  their  edification."  No 
record  of  response  to  this  nor  anything  else  about 
the  library  has  been  preserved.  The  presumption  is 
that  it  went  West  when  about  fifty-five  years  of  age 
and  renewed  its  youth  on  the  frontier  of  that  date. 

CHARITY 

Contributions  of  money  for  the  benefit  of  the 
needy  in  ways  beyond  those  reached  by  the  funds 
for  missions  and  education  also  began  early.  Help- 
fulness in  these  fields  can  never  be  fully  tabulated. 


HISTORICAL  27 

But  especially  in  earlier  times  it  followed  the  private 
ways,  along  family,  church,  and  neighborhood  con- 
nections. In  many  instances  it  was  supplemental 
to  the  more  effective  gifts  of  the  helpful  hand  and 
the  sympathetic  heart.  In  personal  contacts  the 
great  volume  of  finest  ministries  of  this  class  has 
always  been  rendered.  With  the  complexities  of 
more  modern  civilization  this  becomes  less  so,  to 
the  great  injury  of  heart  culture.  But  in  those 
simpler  times,  when  no  charity  organizations  and 
machines  existed,  on  which  the  individuals  could  lay 
these  burdens  or  through  which  they  could  shirk 
them,  these  charities  were  compelled  to  go  by  hand 
and  from  house  to  house.  Recall  that  the  Church 
Discipline  laid  it  down  as  the  duty  of  every  mem- 
ber not  only  to  be  neighborly  toward  the  destitute, 
but  to  furnish  to  the  minister  beyond  his  necessities 
for  this  very  purpose.  This  kind  of  practical  Chris- 
tianity is  well  in  evidence  throughout  the  earlier 
records  of  the  Philadelphia  Association  and  others. 
A  few  instances,  however,  come  into  view  of  com- 
bined responses  to  more  distant  calls,  involving  ap- 
peals to  the  churches. 

In  1756  it  was  "  concluded  to  advise  our  several 
congregations  to  make  some  charitable  contributions 
toward  the  relief  of  the  present  necessity  of  our 
brother,  Mr.  Samuel  Heaton,  who  was  driven  from 
his  possessions  by  the  Indians." 

In  1770  an  appeal  came  from  the  Warren  Asso- 
ciation to  help  in  defraying  the  expenses  of  an  agent 


28  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

to  go  to  England  and  lay  before  "  our  gracious 
sovereign  "  the  distresses  of  some  brethren  perse- 
cuted by  the  government  of  Massachusetts  for  their 
religion,  it  seeming  impossible  to  get  relief  from  the 
authorities  in  that  colony.  The  record  nms  that: 
"  The  request  was  attended  to  with  much  sympathy ; 
collections  to  be  made  in  all  the  churches  imme- 
diately." Three  years  later  money  that  had  been 
sent  for  this  purpose  was  returned  to  such  of  the 
churches  as  so  desired,  the  proposed  mission  to  the 
throne  not  having  been  consummated.  But  the 
next  year,  1774,  another  appeal  went  out  for  the 
same  sufferers,  "  to  contribute  to  their  necessities, 
agreeable  to  the  pattern  of  the  primitive  churches," 
which  brought  in  over  fifty  dollars,  nearly  all  from 
Philadelphia. 

In  1774  also,  James  Sutton,  an  esteemed  minister 
in  the  West,  having  asked  an  appropriation  from  the 
Association  fund,  on  account  of  "  the  loss  of  his 
papers  and  effects  by  fire,"  was  certified  to  the 
churches,  who  were  asked  "  to  contribute  to  his 
necessities,"  and  forty-five  dollars  came  in  from 
six  churches. 

So  are  glimpses  given  of  the  stewardship  in  money 
during  the  Colonial  period  for  losses  by  the  elements, 
the  savages,  and  the  persecutors  in  Massachusetts. 

SPECIAL    AID   TO    CHURCHES 

Special  appeals  for  assistance  in  specific  needs  of 
churches   began    early.      Doubtless    a    considerable 


HISTORICAL  29 

business  of  this  nature  was  disposed  of  informally 
in  the  Association  or  outside  of  it  by  those  com- 
posing it  in  connection  with  its  meetings  and  other- 
wise. But  three  enterprises  took  such  form  in  the 
meetings  that  they  secured  lodgment  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. 

The  first  of  these  was  in  1776.  "  A  petition  from 
the  church  in  Konoloway  "  led  the  Association  to 
request  the  churches  to  send  money  for  investment 
for  the  permanent  benefit  of  that  church.  How  the 
investment  was  made  and  for  what  use  in  particular 
is  not  known,  but  seven  churches  responded  with 
sixt)'  dollars. 

The  second  was  in  1795,  when  "'  an  application  for 
assistance  to  build  a  meeting-house  in  Savannah, 
Ga.,"  providing  privileges  in  the  gallery  for  Negroes, 
secured  seventy-two  dollars. 

The  third  was  in  1796,  when  five  churches  pro- 
vided sixty  dollars  to  aid  the  church  in  Shamokin, 
Pa.,  in  building  a  house  of  worship. 

HISTORICAL    CORRESPONDENCE   AND   PUBLICATION 

In  1802  the  Association  set  in  motion  a  con- 
tinental plan  for  gathering  historical  materials  and 
publishing  pamphlets  growing  out  of  the  same. 
Those  present  pledged  for  themselves  and  the 
churches  they  represented  two  dollars  for  each 
church.  Under  the  guidance  of  Dr.  William  Rogers 
this  work  was  prosecuted  for  several  years  success- 
fully.    When  the  papers  of  his  estate  were  lost  at 


30  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG    BAPTISTS 

sea  on  the  way  to  Rhode  Island  College,  this  mate- 
rial may  have  been  among-  them.  If  it  was,  also 
his  extensive  correspondence  On  other  lines,  the  loss 
was  presumably  the  most  serious  up  to  that  time  in 
Baptist  historical  material  in  America. 

THE   BAPTIST    MAP 

In  1779  a  committee  was  appointed  "  to  prepare 
a  map  of  the  situation  of  the  churches  in  this  Asso- 
ciation, and  to  inform  themselves  of  the  probable 
expense  attending  its  engraving."  On  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  map  the  next  year  and  the  statement 
that  its  cost  would  be  about  one  hundred  dollars, 
each  church  was  "  recommended "  to  send  four 
dollars  "  to  complete  the  designs  "  at  the  next  meet- 
ing. Responses  were  made  by  churches  and  indi- 
viduals. The  amount  being  insufficient  and  assur- 
ances being  given  that  more  might  be  secured,  the 
appeal  was  continued,  with  the  understanding  that 
the  plates  were  to  be  the  property  of  the  Asso- 
ciation and  the  maps  sold  "  at  the  lowest  rate  pos- 
sible." Succeeding  minutes  fail  to  exhibit  the  map. 
This  may  be  accounted  for,  in  part  at  least,  by  the 
appearance  of  an  unusual  array  of  other  enter- 
prises, original  and  revived,  calling  for  money  and 
absorbing  attention,  in  consequence  of  which  the 
map  may  have  been  hung  on  the  wall  of  oblivion. - 

If  one  gathers  out  of  the  preceding  all  the  items 
and  analyzes  them  into  their  elements,  he  may  find 
that   he    has    on    hand   a    larger    variety    than    he 


HISTORICAL  31 

expected.  Circumscribed  as  those  lives  were  and  re- 
stricted in  many  ways,  they  yet  managed  to  push 
out  with  money  over  a  range  of  service  hardly  less 
than  what  we  have  attained.  They  had  recognized 
the  same  general  principles,  and  had  applied  them 
substantially  as  we  do  now.  Quantitatively,  of 
course,  their  showing  shrivels  in  the  comparison ;  but 
relatively,  in  the  light  of  resources  and  conditions, 
our  discretion  will  not  be  eager  to  press  the  com- 
parison. 

THE  LARGER  PROSPECT 

I.  Prosperity  and  Proportion.  Looking  now 
beyond  the  Philadelphia  Association,  though  not 
excluding  it,  and  extending  the  time  limit  a  few 
decades,  we  proceed.  The  general  proposition  that 
material  possessions  must  be  tributary  to  the  serv- 
ice of  God  stood  for  considerable  time  almost  with- 
out amplification  beyond  what  we  have  already  seen. 
The  principles  on  which  this  proposition  rested,  or 
into  which  it  expanded  in  application,  were  not 
brought  forward  clearly  or  fully.  But  with  the 
opening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  responsive 
to  the  various  expansions  of  opportunities  calling 
for  increase  of  financial  resources,  this  larger  dis- 
cussion came  out  and  stood  forth.  Perhaps  more 
than  any  other  year  of  that  period,  1814  may  be 
taken  as  the  flowering  year  in  this  particular.  We 
get  the  substance  of  the  whole  from  two  distin- 
guished documents. 


32  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

First  comes,  in  May,  the  sermon  of  Doctor  Fur- 
man  in  connection  with  the  founding  of  the  Tri- 
ennial Convention.  That  event  was  in  a  conspicu- 
ous way  the  culmination  of  a  long  rising  tide  of 
missionary  outlook,  and  the  sermon  that  voiced  the 
situation  naturally  bore  on  its  crest  the  pressing 
problem  of  means  for  the  forward  movement  at 
hand.  Among  its  closing  words  are  these :  "  Let 
therefore  all  the  considerations  we  have  urged  from 
the  word  of  God  on  this  sublime  subject  be  duly 
regarded  that  they  may  concentrate  their  whole 
force  on  the  heart  and  give  an  impulse  to  action, 
which,  through  the  grace  of  the  Redeemer,  no  diffi- 
culties can  retard,  no  opposition  withstand.  Let 
the  wise  and  good  employ  their  counsels;  the 
minister  of  Christ,  who  is  qualified  for  the  sacred 
office,  offer  himself  for  the  work;  the  man  of 
wealth  and  generosity,  who  values  the  glory  of 
Emmanuel  and  the  salvation  of  souls  more  than 
gold,  bring  of  his  treasures  in  proportion  as  God 
has  bestowed  on  him;  yea,  let  all,  even  the  pious 
widow,  bring  the  mite  that  can  be  spared." 

The  other  of  these  two  utterances  was  the  Cir- 
cular Letter  of  the  Philadelphia  Association  in  Octo- 
ber, devoted  exclusively  to  the  problem,  of  money 
for  religious  uses.  It  appealed  for  retrenchment 
of  expenses,  especially  luxuries,  in  the  interest  of 
benevolence ;  and  concerning  luxuries  it  said :  "  At 
any  rate,  if  indulgence  in  such  things  is  lawful,  it 
is  so  only  when  a  sum  proportionate  to  our  wealth 


HISTORICAL  33 

remains  for  charitable  uses."  Under  "  proportions 
of  distribution,"  which  "  ought  always  to  depend 
on  what  we  possess,"  it  said  that  the  deficiencies  of 
the  rich  often  overburden  the  poor,  and,  "  it  cer- 
tainly is  not  our  duty  to  give  when  our  families 
will  suffer  by  our  generosity,  nor  when  the  property 
we  have  is  not  our  own ;  yet  to  keep  up  a  sense  of 
duty,  and  to  show  our  good  will,  we  should  oblige 
ourselves  to  bestow  a  trifle  at  least  that  will  not 
injure  us."  In  another  place,  where  the  comparative 
backwardness  of  Baptists  is  explained,  the  letter 
says :  "  Let  a  Baptist  seriously  ask  himself  this 
question,  what  proportion  of  my  wealth  do  I  now 
give  to  the  support  of  the  cause  I  have  espoused  and 
pronounced  truth,  of  what  I  used  to  give  while  my 
heart  was  a  stranger  to  Godliness,  or  while  I  re- 
mained in  a  different  communion?  .  .  We  may 
thank  the  corruptions  of  Christianity  for  this 
evil.  The  members  of  our  churches  had  been  borne 
down  by  religious  tyranny.  They  had  groaned  under 
heavy  religious  imposts,  they  had  seen  an  order  of 
men  raised  up  above  them  in  religion,  a  kind  of 
nobility  unapproachable,  with  little  religion,  less 
zeal,  and  no  spirituality,  a  few  excepted;  hence, 
without  tracing  those  evils  to  their  true  sources, 
they  went  to  the  other  extreme,  and  starved  a  spirit- 
ual clergy  and  did  but  little  to  render  religious 
worship  comfortable."  The  effort  here  is  to  correct 
the  error  of  this  recoil,  with  reference  first  to  home 
interests. 


34  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

In  1833  an  editorial  in  the  "  American  Baptist 
Magazine,"  presenting  the  cause  of  the  Baptist 
Building  Fund,  said :  "  The  present  may  be  desig- 
nated, more  than  any  former  period,  as  the  age  of 
liberality  and  benevolence.  Although  we  would  not 
prescribe  efforts  to  make  men  feel  the  pressing 
claims  of  immediate  duty  by  setting  forth  the  wants 
of  societies,  individuals,  and  churches  in  the  most 
touching  manner,  yet  we  would  deem  it  a  blessing 
to  see  men  give  regularly  to  stated  objects  a  stated 
sum,  and  whatever  else  they  would,  in  voluntary 
contribution.  Every  Christian,  we  think,  should 
deem  himself  in  debt  to  the  cause  of  the  Redeemer 
for  a  certain  annual  amount;  and  should  be  as 
uneasy  if  that  be  not  paid  as  if  he  were  long  in 
debt  to  his  merchant."  Having  referred  to  the 
debt  of  tithes  and  offerings  in  the  Old  Testament, 
under  the  conception  of  Christian  liberty,  it  con- 
tinued :  "  There  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
fact  to  be  learned  from  the  history  of  God's  requi- 
sitions for  the  Jewish  tabernacle  is  that  we  should 
set  apart  a  definite  and  worthy  portion  of  our 
wealth  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  as  his  ancient  peo- 
ple were  bound  to  do  for  the  tabernacle." 

The  Philadelphia  Association  in  1840  earnestly 
recommended  to  the  churches  to  adopt  "  system- 
atic measures  for  contributing "  to  Bible  trans- 
lation. The  next  year  it  approved  of  a  "  one-cent- 
a-week  plan "  for  State  missions,  which  was 
repeated  in  1842  and  later. 


HISTORICAL  35 

The  "  Magazine  ''  in  1846  published,  with  strong 
commendation,  a  long  discussion  of  "  The  Divine 
Method  of  Raising  Charitable  Contributions,"  bor- 
rowed from  a  publication  of  the  American  Board. 
This  urges  contributions  frequently,  statedly,  and 
proportionately  on  the  basis  of  prosperity,  saying: 
"  As  certainly  as  every  member  of  the  church  is  an 
individual  being,  just  so  certainly  is  every  one 
ordered  to  lay  by  in  store  as  God  has  prospered 
him."  In  the  same  year  the  Philadelphia  Associa- 
tion, in  view  of  the  pressing  needs  of  missions  and 
the  duty  of  every  one  to  respond,  said :  "  It  is 
highly  important  that  in  every  church  systematic 
effort  should  be  made  to  communicate  intelligence 
to  each  member,  and  to  secure  the  cooperation  of 
each  member  in  sending  the  gospel  to  the  heathen." 
And  next  year  the  Missionary  Union,  disclaiming 
any  design  to  dictate  methods  to  the  churches,  de- 
clared that  "  the  plan  whose  object  is  to  induce 
every  member  of  every  church  to  contribute  cheer- 
fully, regularly,  and  according  to  his  ability,  is  the 
only  plan  which  promises  to  the  missionary  enter- 
prise a  reliable  and  abundant  increase  and  the 
largest  prosperity  to  the  churches.  No  person 
is  to  be  passed  by  whom  Christ  has  made  a 
missionary  laborer.  The  whole  work  of  the  enter- 
prise cannot  be  done  without  his  help.  Nor  can  he 
withhold  it  and  do  his  whole  duty  to  Christ." 

In  1847  the  West  Kensington  Church,  Philadel- 
phia, reported  to  the  Association  that  it  had  "  exer- 


36  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

cised  a  rigid  discipline,  and  excluded  several  mem- 
bers for  the  sin  of  covetousness."  In  1850  the 
Association  feared  that  "many  are  fettered  hand 
and  foot  by  covetousness."  This  was  in  the  report 
of  the  Committee  on  Domestic  Missions,  and  in  the 
same  year  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Missions, 
speaking  of  those  in  sympathy  with  this  and  all 
good  works,  said :  "  The  grand  lack  as  to  these  is 
system.  Not  only  should  their  contributions  be 
gathered  and  remitted  by  a  regular  system,  but  each 
should  adopt  in  his  entire  system  of  almsgiving  a 
fixed  rule  of  proportion.  If  every  Christian  would 
on  his  knees  dedicate  to  God  so  many  cents  on  every 
dollar  he  earns,  and  divide  the  amount  between  the 
different  calls  of  benevolence,  paying  it  over  to  the 
proper  collectors  at  stated  periods,  without  solicita- 
tion, what  a  revolution  would  we  see  in  the  sublime 
work  of  the  church  of  God!  And  why  should  not 
every  Christian  examine  what  ought  to  be  his  rule 
of  proportion?  There  is  and  must  be  a  right  meas- 
ure for  every  degree  of  wealth  or  poverty.  We  may 
settle  it  at  one,  twenty,  or  fifty  per  cent,  but  we 
should  settle  it.  We  are  either  right  or  wrong  in 
the  amount  we  contribute,  and  no  man  knows  that 
he  is  right  in  anything  unless  he  has  a  standard. 
The  Holy  Spirit  says  we  are  to  give  '  as  God  has 
prospered  us.'  We  are  thus  furnished  as  we  are  in 
other  cases  with  a  general  rule,  and  left  to  decide  its 
application  to  specific  cases." 

These  views  now  and  before  now  had  become 


HISTORICAL  37 

generally  diffused  and  were  frequently  pressed. 
The  universal  duty  to  contribute  systematically 
according  to  ability  had  become  commonplace 
among  missionary  Baptists,  theoretically  at  least. 

2.  Various  Percentage  Plans.  Leaving  the 
ground  principle  of  stewardship  according  to 
ability  on  some  basis  of  proportion,  we  come  now 
to  the  problem  of  percentage  in  more  definite  detail. 
What  part  of  one's  possessions,  whether  in  the 
aggregate  or  the  income,  ought  he  to  set  apart? 
The  earlier  methods,  missionary  and  others,  did 
not  attempt  to  solve  this  problem.  They  left  the 
individual  free  and  unadvised  on  this  point.  Their 
organizations  usually  provided  for  a  uniform  pay- 
ment for  beginning  and  for  continuing,  without 
regard  to  differing  abilities  among  the  members. 
The  admittance  fee  was  usually  one  dollar  or  half 
of  it,  and  where  members  were  taxed  for  continu- 
ous payments,  the  amount  was  oftener  one  cent  a 
week  than  otherwise.  This  scheme  appeared  chiefly 
in  the  women's  societies.  In  the  later  and  larger 
movement  of  the  women,  two  cents  weekly  became 
the  ruling  standard.  These  bases,  however,  related 
solely  to  the  support  of  the  one  society  without 
reference  to  the  aggregate  obligation  of  the  individ- 
ual to  the  cause. 

Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  glints  of  more 
definite  methods  begin  to  come  into  view.  They 
probably  are  only  glints,  though  not  representing 
much  of  a  total.  The  century  had  opened  before  the 


38  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

Baptists  had  any  periodical  literature  through  which 
to  express  themselves,  and  still  later  the  opportu- 
nities for  individual  expressions  were  very  meager. 
It  is  not  safe,  therefore,  to  think  that  a  complete 
report,  or  even  a  majority  report,  of  all  those  who 
made  some  adjustment  of  their  whole  material  pos- 
sessions to  the  needs  of  the  divine  cause,  ever  ap- 
peared, or  that  it  would  show  much.  Still  there 
was  enough  to  invite  attention  to  it. 

The  Circular  Letter  of  the  Philadelphia  Associa- 
tion in  1814  says:  "One  gentleman  in  Philadelphia 
has  set  an  example  worthy  of  imitation,  it  being  his 
unalterable  practice  to  appropriate  a  certain  part 
of  his  clear  gains  to  constitute  a  fund  applicable 
only  to  the  doing  of  good."  We  have  no  means  of 
identifying  this  person  or  of  learning  what  portion 
he  set  aside.  The  writer  of  that  letter  was  in  close 
association  with  the  centers  of  missionary  and  other 
benevolent  life  in  the  city,  and  his  language  seems 
to  involve  that  he  knew  of  only  one  such  giver. 
This  one  may  or  may  not  have  been  a  Baptist. 

A  letter  from  "  A  Georgia  Planter "  appeared 
in  the  "  Baptist  Magazine,"  May,  1823,  enclosing 
ten  dollars,  which,  while  it  does  not  prove  a  definite 
percentage,  suggests  it,  and  is  so  suggestive  in  other 
particulars  that  we  may  do  well  to  see  it  in  full : 
"  Here  is  a  mite  enclosed  for  your  society.  It  is 
part  of  the  proceeds  of  a  cotton-field,  for  benevolent 
purposes.  I  helped  to  plow  the  ground,  plant,  hoe, 
pick,  gin,  and  pack  the  cotton  with  my  own  hands. 


HISTORICAL  39 

A  part  of  the  proceeds  is  for  the  Colonization  So- 
ciety. My  servants  would  show  their  large  white 
teeth  when,  to  encourage  them  to  do  their  work 
well,  I  informed  them  that  this  cotton  was  designed 
to  be  a  means  of  enlightening  their  brethren  in 
Africa.  Don't  you  think  that  Christians,  by  and 
by,  will  act  more  like  stewards  with  the  property 
God  has  given  them?  I  think  it  better  to  give  now 
and  then  a  mite,  which  the  Lord  may  have  bestowed 
upon  me,  to  advance  his  cause,  than  to  lavish  it  on 
profligate  and  dissipated  sons.  Will  not  God  at  a 
future  day  require  the  property  he  has  loaned  us? 
We  see  you  Northern  folks  seem  conscious  of  this 
by  the  exertions  you  are  using  to  advance  the  Re- 
deemer's cause.  This  has  become  a  fortunate  lega- 
tee in  comparison  with  what  it  was  fifty  years  ago. 
We  down  here,  so  near  the  equator,  think  we  can 
discover  the  upper  limb  of  the  millennium  sun  al- 
ready. Will  he  not  get  clear  above  the  horizon  by 
1866?" 

The  Historical  Discourse  at  the  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  the  Vermont  State  Convention,  1875,  reports 
the  receipts  in  1825  as  two  hundred  and  fifty-one 
dollars,  "  and  nearly  one-half  of  that  in  goods  " ; 
that  sixteen  auxiliary  societies  were  represented, 
and  that  one  of  these  was  "  a  flock  society,"  which  is 
explained  as  follows :  "  These  latter  societies,  the 
members  of  which  kept  one  or  more  sheep,  the 
profits  of  which  were  sacred  to  mission  work,  were 
quite  common  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  Conven- 


40  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

tion."  Such  societies  existed  in  other  States  in 
those  days. 

The  "  Magazine  "  of  January,  1830,  contains  a 
communication  from  "  K,"  transmitting  a  contri- 
bution from  "  An  Unknown  Friend,"  who  had  asked 
him  to  find  a  place  for  its  usefulness.  This  friend 
wrote :  "  About  three  years  since  I  was  impressed 
with  the  duty  of  contributing  to  missions  and  other 
religious  purposes,  and  concluded  to  appropriate  a 
certain  per  cent  of  my  income  to  that  purpose.  That 
year  I  was  enabled  to  give  five  dollars.  The  next 
year  I  was  enabled,  by  divine  Providence,  to  double 
the  small  sum.  At  the  commencement  of  this  year 
I  was  induced  to  put  by  twice  my  former  percent- 
age, and  in  consequence  am  enabled  to  remit  to 
your  care  twenty  dollars." 

In  1845,  Nathan  Brown,  then  a  missionary  in 
Assam,  published  in  the  "  Magazine  "  a  strenuous 
appeal  for  increase  of  missionary  contributions.  In- 
timations had  reached  him  that  that  field  might  be 
abandoned  because  of  deficient  funds.  He  declared 
that  he  would  not  abandon  it,  that  he  would  send  his 
family  home  and  stay  there  anyway;  and  on  this 
basis  he  urged  the  supporters  to  do  better.  His 
specific  recommendation  was  that  each  one  "  devote 
the  proceeds  of  one  day's  labor  every  month  to  the 
cause  of  missions."  He  assured  the  brethren  that 
that  was  not  all  they  ought  to  give  to  the  Lord,  but 
if  enough  of  them  would  do  that  much  for  foreign 
missions  the  impending  disaster  would  be  averted. 


HISTORICAL  41 

The  "  Missionary  Magazine  '•  for  December, 
1846.  gave  a  table  of  contributions  from  the  north- 
ern States  to  foreign  missions  in  the  preceding  fiscal 
year,  and  added  this :  "  The  average  per  member 
was  greatest  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  where 
it  was  one  dollar  and  seventeen  cents.  Of  one 
church  in  that  State  we  have  recently  heard  it  said, 
that  during  the  last  year  every  member  contributed 
to  the  cause  of  foreign  missions.  The  largest  do- 
nation w^as  five  hundred  dollars,  the  smallest  three 
cents.  As  the  church  is  numerous,  the  amount  for- 
warded to  the  treasury  was  large,  exceeding,  with 
perhaps  one  exception,  that  of  any  other  Baptist 
church  in  the  United  States.  She  is  by  no  means 
the  wealthiest  church;  but,  we  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve, she  has  succeeded  in  diffusing  quite  thor- 
oughly among  her  members  the  missionary  spirit." 

The  early  action  of  the  American  missionaries  in 
Burma  seems  to  be  pertinent  here.  From  the  begin- 
ning Judson  held  that  his  time  belonged  to  the  mis- 
sionary cause  on  the  basis  of  the  living  it  provided 
for  him.  He  therefore  retained  nothing  of  any 
funds  coming  to  him  from  any  other  source  during 
his  life  in  the  East,  from  the  British  Government 
for  services  rendered  it  or  from  any  other  source, 
with  slight  exception.  In  1828  he  went  farther  than 
this  in  renunciation  of  possessions  that  are  com- 
monly regarded  as  the  right  of  every  one.  In  that 
year  he  wrote  to  the  secretary  of  the  Triennial  Con- 
vention :   '■'  When    I    left   America    I   brought   with 


42  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

me  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  the  avails  of  my 
own  earnings  and  the  gifts  of  my  relatives  and 
personal  friends.  This  money  has  been  accumula- 
ting at  interest  for  many  years  under  the  manage- 
ment of  a  kind  friend  to  the  mission,  and  occasion- 
ally receiving  accessions  from  other  quarters,  par- 
ticularly at  the  close  of  the  late  war,  until  it 
amounts  to  twelve  thousand  rupees  [six  thousand 
dollars].  I  now  beg  leave  to  present  it  to  the 
Board,  or  rather  to  Him  who  loved  us  and  washed 
us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood."  Four  months 
later  he  and  his  colleague,  Jonathan  Wade,  sent  to 
the  same  official  a  communication  in  which  they  pro- 
posed, in  view  of  the  pressing  needs  of  the  mission, 
to  relinquish  one-twentieth  of  their  allowance  from 
the  Board,  to  which  they  added :  "  We  respectfully 
suggest  that  a  similar  proposal  be  made  to  the  Bap- 
tist ministers  in  the  United  States ;  and  we  engage 
that,  as  soon  as  it  shall  appear  that  one  hundred 
ministers,  including  ourselves,  have  resolved  to 
transmit  to  the  treasurer  of  the  American  Baptist 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  one-twentieth  of  all  their 
regular  income,  whether  derived  from  their  salaries 
or  estates,  we  will  relinquish  a  second  twentieth  of 
our  allowance,  that  is,  one-tenth  of  the  whole." 
This  proposal  was  made  when  they  were  able  to  say 
also :  "  We  receive  less  than  any  English  mission- 
aries of  any  denomination  in  any  part  of  the  East, 
and  as  little  as  any  American  missionaries  in  these 
parts,  notwithstanding  the  expense  of  living  on  this 


HISTORICAL  43 

coast  is  probably  greater  than  at  a  majority  of  other 
stations."  Less  than  a  year  later,  that  is,  June, 
1829,  Judson  proposed  to  reduce  his  allowance  by 
one-quarter,  his  "  mode  of  living  "  enabling  him  to 
do  so ;  "  this  arrangement  not  to  interfere  with  pro- 
posals made  under  date  of  September  last."  Thus 
in  1830  these  American  Baptists  in  Burma  seem  to 
have  risen  to  the  highest  places  in  stewardship  of 
material  possessions  among  all  the  disciples  of  the 
Cross  in  all  the  world.  This  was  published  in 
America,  as  had  been  earlier  the  justly  distinguished 
consecration  of  Carey  and  his  associates  in  like  kind 
and  degree,  which  doubtless  had  nourished  the  de- 
votion of  the  Americans  at  home  and  abroad. 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  single  influence  of 
this  period  was  that  of  Nathanael  Ripley  Cobb.  The 
reports  that  came  from  Serampore  and  Rangoon 
were  impressive.  Christians  felt  the  strong  impact 
and  the  strenuous  appeal  of  those  great  souls  who 
went  abroad  and  did  exploits  of  devotion ;  but  they 
were  far  away,  on  the  high  places  peculiarly  in  all 
things,  and  were  more  or  less  viewed  as  in  a  class 
by  themselves.  What  they  did  was  excellent,  sub- 
lime, and  highly  commendable  in  them;  let  them 
be  applauded,  but  the  people  at  home  probably  did 
not  take  their  standards  as  practicable  generally.  It 
would  be  well,  possibly,  if  the  "  ministers  "  here 
could  touch  their  standard,  but  for  business  men 
and  domestic  women — why  that  was  another  thing. 
And  there  was  a  lack  of  leadership  that  way.    Even 


44  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

Judson  and  Wade,  in  their  proposal  to  enlist  their 
brethren  at  home  in  advance  contributions,  ad- 
dressed only  ministers.  They  did  not  intimate  that 
they  expected  others  to  do  as  they  were  doing  and 
as  they  were  calling  the  pastors  to  do.  Now  in  this 
situation,  with  all  allowance  for  the  practice  and 
example  of  other  Baptist  brethren,  in  Mr.  Cobb 
a  new  star  arose  in  the  field  of  stewardship  among 
business  men. 

At  sixteen  years  of  age  Nathanael  Cobb  became 
a  clerk  in  Boston,  the  same  year  that  the  Baptist 
Convention  for  Foreign  Missions  was  born;  at 
twenty  he  became  a  Baptist,  at  twenty-one  estab- 
lished his  own  business,  and  at  thirty-six  passed  to 
his  reward,  in  1834.  Yet  in  this  brief  life,  the  later 
years  of  which  were  in  declining  health,  he  made  a 
profound  impression  on  those  near  him  as  a  steward 
of  a  comparatively  new  order ;  and  the  story  of  his 
life  went  abroad  as  the  story  of  no  other  Baptist 
business  man  had  ever  done,  challenging  those  of 
his  own  class  especially  to  see  finance  in  a  new 
light.  An  extended  biographical  account  of  him 
appeared  in  the  "  American  Baptist  Magazine," 
August,  1834.  The  same  was  issued  complete  as  a 
tract  by  the  Publication  Society,  and  in  reduced 
form  by  the  American  Tract  Society.  From  these 
sources,  directly  and  indirectly,  the  story  of  this 
life  went  widely  abroad  among  Baptists  and  others, 
everywhere  an  argument  and  appeal  to  all  Chris- 
tians, and  to  those  of  business  ability  and  success 


HISTORICAL  45 

particularly,  to  do  business  regularly,  constantly, 
systematically,  and  earnestly  for  the  good  of  the 
world  in  the  name  of  Christ.  Selections  from  this 
"  Memoir  "  are  now  reproduced. 

"  Mr.  Cobb  resolved,  at  the  commencement  of  his 
religious  life,  that  he  would  serve  the  Saviour  with 
all  his  power,  in  that  sphere  which  seemed  to  be 
particularly  assigned  to  him.  He  had  not  an  oppor- 
tunity to  acquire  extensive  learning,  and  he  could 
not  serve  the  church  to  any  considerable  extent  by 
his  voice  or  his  pen.  But  God  endowed  him  with 
very  unusual  talents  for  business.  He  had  great 
activity,  acute  penetration  into  the  characters  of 
men  and  the  signs  of  times,  rapid  decision,  and  un- 
conquerable perseverance.  He  displayed  in  the 
counting-room  some  of  the  mental  qualities  which 
made  Napoleon  the  irresistible  victor  on  a  hundred 
battlefields.  As  a  natural  consequence,  Mr.  Cobb 
accumulated  property  with  great  rapidity;  and  if 
he  had  chosen  to  devote  himself  to  the  narrow  work 
of  amassing  wealth,  he  might,  perhaps,  if  he  had 
lived,  become  a  rival  of  Girard.  But  he  justly 
regarded  his  talent  for  business  as  an  instrument 
which  he  ought  to  employ  for  the  glory  of  his  Sa- 
viour. He  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  use  it  in  earning 
money  for  the  cause  of  God  on  precisely  the  same 
principle  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  minister  to  devote 
his  talents  for  preaching  to  the  service  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  He  accordingly,  in  November,  1821,  drew 
up  and   subscribed  the  following  very  remarkable 


46  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

document :  '  By  the  grace  of  God,  I  will  never  be 
worth  more  than  $50,000.  By  the  grace  of  God,  I 
will  give  one-fourth  of  the  net  profits  of  my  business 
to  charitable  and  religious  uses.  If  I  am  ever 
worth  $20,000,  I  will  give  one-half  of  my  net 
profits ;  and  if  I  am  ever  worth  $30,000,  I  will  give 
three-fourths;  and  the  whole  after  $50,000.  So 
help  me  God,  or  give  to  a  more  faithful  steward, 
and  set  me  aside.'  " 

Mr.  Cobb,  adhering  faithfully  to  this  pledge,  dis- 
tributed his  accumulations  over  a  wide  field  of 
needs,  centering  in  the  preparation  of  men  to 
spread  the  gospel.  His  benefactions  aggregated 
$40,000,  and  his  acute  business  wisdom  saved  va- 
rious benevolent  organizations  from  losses,  for  he 
was  a  manager  and  adviser  of  many  good  causes. 
Forty  thousand  dollars  is  small  now  to  "  big  busi- 
ness," but  it  was  not  then,  and  there  was  no 
"  water  "  in  his  stock.  If  he  should  now,  in  the 
same  spirit  and  on  the  same  plan,  enter  business, 
he  might  and  probably  would  extend  his  limitations. 
But  for  his  time  his  achievement  was  extraordinary, 
both  in  business  and  benevolence,  the  memorial  from 
which  we  have  quoted  was  utilized  skilfully  to  reach 
business  men,  and  his  example  probably  shaped  the 
course  of  stewardship  among  Baptists  more  effect- 
ively than  any  other. 


II 

TITHING 

Hitherto  we  have  said  nothing  about  tithing.  It 
has  been  extensively  a  method  of  contributing  to 
reHgion  among  pagans.  Jews,  and  Christians.  But 
only  recently  has  it  been  accorded  much  recognition 
by  Baptists,  and  all  recognition  of  it  by  them  waited 
till  a  late  date  comparatively.  Its  claims  on  our 
allegiance  have  been  steadily  opposed,  but  in  the 
more  immediate  past  it  has  come  into  larger  favor 
than  ever  before.  The  issue  it  raises  is  perhaps  the 
most  divisive  among  us  now  in  the  whole  field  of 
stewardship,  whether  its  claim  be  regarded  as  au- 
thoritative or  only  advisable.  Therefore  such  a 
discussion  as  we  are  now  attempting  cannot  be  car- 
ried to  its  conclusion  properly  without  a  recognition 
of  this  claim.  For  this  reason  tithing  is  now  taken 
up  separately,  having  been  eliminated  so  far  from 
the  historic  exploration,  partly  because  of  its  moder- 
nity among  Baptists,  and  partly  in  consequence  of 
the  division  concerning  it.  With  much  condensa- 
tion necessarily,  but  with  equal  candor  intentionally, 
we  proceed  with  it.  Two  views  present  them- 
selves, the  historical  and  the  doctrinal.  The  his- 
torical is  brought  over  from  the  preceding  chapter, 

47 


48  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

the  doctrinal  is  placed  in  advance  of  its  natural 
position  under  "  Principles  Applied  Critically,"  and 
the  two  are  combined  here  because,  in  an  adequate 
treatment  to  meet  the  present  situation,  they  require 
more  space  than  could  well  be  given  them  in  a  sub- 
ordinate relation. 

HISTORICAL 

The  writer  does  not  claim  to  have  explored  com- 
pletely the  whole  field  in  which  some  light  on  this 
subject  might  be  found,  but  he  does  claim  to  have 
examined  carefully  the  two  lines  of  record  in  which 
it  is  highly  probable  that  every  element  appearing 
among  us  until  recently  has  found  expression — the 
Minutes  of  the  Philadelphia  Association  and  the 
"  Missionary  Magazine  "  from  1803  onward  under 
its  several  names.  Moreover,  the  need  of  brevity 
restricts  us  to  these  two. 

The  first  time  that  the  question  of  the  obligation 
of  the  tenth  in  Christian  giving  seems  to  have  ap- 
peared in  Baptist  literature  in  America  was  in  the 
"  Magazine  "  of  March,  1833.  Then  two  articles 
stood  side  by  side  and,  so  standing,  set  forth  the 
Pedobaptist  and  the  Baptist  views  in  that  field. 
The  first  was  a  selection  from  the  writings  of  Cot- 
ton Mather,  a  Congregationalist,  under  the  caption 
"  Christian  Liberality,"  touching  "  the  proportion 
of  a  man's  income  to  be  devoted  to  pious  uses." 
The  position  taken  is  that  one-tenth  is  the  least 
allowable.      He    argues    for    it    "  in    the    light    of 


TITHING  49 

nature,"  as  is  evident  in  the  practices  of  ancient 
peoples  and  in  Abraham's  offering  to  Melchizedek. 
Mather  says :  "  The  tenths  are  the  rights  of  Mel- 
chizedek; therefore  the  tenths  belong  to  our  Jesus." 
But,  in  an  editorial  immediately  following,  the 
"  Magazine  "  fails  to  accept  this  basis  of  authority. 
On  the  contrary,  it  holds,  "  it  is  true  that  the  liberty 
of  the  present  dispensation  leaves  men  free  to  give 
what  they  will ;  while  in  the  former  the  amount  was 
fixed,"  and  adds :  "  But  because  God  leaves  us  now 
at  liberty,  relying,  in  a  manner,  on  the  generosity  of 
our  hearts,  is  it  noble  to  give  him  less  than  he 
required,  when  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  Jewish 
hierarchy?"  The  editorial  concludes  that  the  les- 
son from  the  past  for  us  is  that  we  set  apart  "  a 
definite  and  worthy  portion."  The  tithe  is  not 
recognized  by  the  "  Magazine  "  at  all  under  law, 
and  under  liberty,  only  as  suggesting  a  general 
principle. 

Recalling  the  letter  of  Nathan  Brown,  1845,  i" 
which  we  have  already  found  his  proposal  to  his 
brethren  in  America  to  devote  the  earnings  of  one 
day  in  the  month  to  foreign  missions,  we  observe 
that  he  says :  "  One  day  in  the  month  for  missions 
wall  still  leave  the  greater  portion  of  your  tithe  for 
the  support  of  the  gospel  at  home."  Though  pos- 
sibly he  here  uses  "  tithe  "  in  the  sense  of  tenth,  the 
probability  is  that  by  it  he  means  the  whole  benevo- 
lent fund  of  whatever  amount.  The  reason  for  this 
view  is  that  in  the  sense  of  the  "  tenth  "  Baptists  were 


50  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

not  then  using  it  among  themselves,  though  they 
might  so  have  used  it  in  discussing  some  other  sys- 
tem ;  they  never  had  so  used  it ;  and  he  himself  was 
proposing  a  different  basis,  that  is,  the  whole  income 
for  one-thirtieth  of  the  time,  not  one-tenth  of  the 
income  for  all  the  time.  If  he  had  intended  this 
latter  meaning  he  would  presumably  have  suggested 
a  fraction  of  the  tenth  instead  of  the  month.  Nine- 
teen years  earlier  the  "  Magazine  "  had  used  the 
word  in  the  meaning  here  attributed  to  Doctor 
Brown  when,  referring  to  the  contributions  of  their 
handiwork  by  the  women's  societies,  it  had  said, 
"  Many  of  the  sisters  are  bringing  their  tithes  into 
the  storehouse,"  an  instance  entirely  excluding  all 
fractions  from  consideration.  It  is  therefore  morally 
certain  that  Doctor  Brown  did  not  use  tithe  in  the 
specific  sense,  long  common  among  Pedobaptists  but 
not  till  later  coming  into  vogue  among  Baptists. 

So  far  as  I  know,  the  first  utterance  by  a  Bap- 
tist of  the  probability  or  possibility  that  the  tithe 
of  the  Old  Testament  had  any  obligatory  relation 
to  a  Christian,  appeared  in  the  "  Magazine "  of 
February,  1859.  It  is  in  an  editorial  discussion  at 
some  length  of  the  "  Duty  of  Giving  for  Religious 
Purposes."  Searching  for  the  teachings  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  writer  outlines  the  system  and  his- 
tory of  stewardship  in  the  Old  Testament,  closing 
with  the  statement  that  to  the  people  of  that  time,. 
in  relation  to  the  law  then  in  force,  "  To  withhold 
was  to  rob  God."    His  next  paragraph  opens  in  this 


TITHING  51 

way :  "  However  much  we  may  be  disposed  to  evade 
the  force  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  upon  the 
subject  of  giving,  no  such  evasion  is  admissible  in 
the  New  Testament.  And  it  is  here  submitted  to 
the  candid  reader,  if  the  teachings  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation on  this  particular  subject  do  not  form  a 
part  of  the  moral  features  of  that  [New]  Testa- 
ment. It  is  evident  that  Christ  and  his  apostles 
frequently  quoted  from  the  Old,  and  incorporated 
its  precepts  in  the  New."  But  he  nowhere  affirms 
the  obligation  of  the  tenth  or  any  other  fixed  sum. 
On  the  contrary,  all  his  quite  full  and  earnest  con- 
clusions are  confined  to  the  general  duty  of  stew- 
ardship ;  and  the  final  one  among  his  "  legitimate 
inferences  "  is  "  that  if  any  specific  amount  of  our 
increase  is  required,  we  cannot  refuse  it  without 
violating  our  obligation  to  God,  and  withholding 
good  from  whom  it  is  due,  and  thus  injuring  our 
own  souls.  We  are  not  authorized  to  plead  any 
excuse  in  the  premises."  Evidently  this  writer  was 
doing  his  best  to  get  the  grip  of  some  element  of 
the  former  law  on  his  brethren,  by  way  of  sugges- 
tion at  least,  but  he  seems  to  have  realized  that  he 
was  going  against  the  grain  of  his  readers,  that  they 
held  to  the  New  Testament  as  excluding  such ;  there- 
fore he  halted  under  an  "  if  "  as  ample  as  the  whole 
intimation  which  he  had  submitted  to  the  "  candid 
reader." 

The  foregoing  has  been  presented  as  throwing 
some  light  on  the  Baptist  mind  touching  Old  Testa- 


52  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

ment  requirements,  including  the  tithe,  until  past 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  leaders 
were  intensely  and  increasingly  earnest  during  the 
first  half  of  that  century  in  rousing  the  people  to 
a  practical  recognition  of  duty  in  the  use  of  property. 
They  saw  the  need  of  calling  their  brethren  a  long 
way  forward  in  this  field,  but  all  their  earnestness 
seems  never  to  have  led  one  of  them  to  go  where 
many  of  their  successors  now  go  and  confidently 
stand — to  the  claim  that  the  tithe  in  some  interpre- 
tation of  it  is  a  Christian  duty;  this  claim  by  these 
successors  having  appeared  in  much  literature,  in- 
cluding that  of  both  the  Northern  Convention  and 
the  Southern  Convention. 

If  the  question  be  raised,  why  were  Baptists  so 
reluctant,  so  silent  on  this  point  so  long,  several 
things  may  be  said  with  confidence.  The  first  is  that 
it  was  not  because  they  were  indifferent  to  steward- 
ship and  its  development  in  details.  We  have  col- 
lated enough  to  establish  that  they  gave  this  sub- 
ject much  thought  and  expression  on  the  lines  of 
prosperity,  equality,  and  the  adjustment  of  details 
on  other  bases,  the  fields,  the  flocks,  the  expenses, 
the  luxuries,  etc.  The  next  thing  to  be  said  is  that 
the  tithe  stood  centrally  in  those  oppressive  eccle- 
siastical systems  under  which  they  suffered  and 
against  which  they  protested.  "  The  tithing  man  " 
was  peculiarly  the  embodiment  of  the  financial  sys- 
tem of  the  State  Church  and  the  lash  it  laid  on 
them.     They   were   excusable   for   some   sensitive- 


TITHING  53 

ness  against  the  word  in  any  interpretation  of  it. 
But  the  chief  thing  to  be  said  is  that  they  left  it 
out  because  they  did  not  regard  it  as  having  any 
place  in  the  Christian  system.  They  stood  in  their 
liberty  of  the  gospel  and  aside  from  the  law.  It 
would  not  be  true  to  say  that  all  Baptists  ever  have 
been  thoroughly  consistent  in  their  understanding  of 
their  liberty  in  relation  to  Old  Testament  law ;  but 
they  have  approximated  it,  and  they  were  clear 
enough  all  along  the  line  in  earlier  times  to  enable 
them  to  ignore  the  whole  tithing  scheme  as  applica- 
ble to  themselves. 

DOCTRINAL 

This  opens  the  tithing  issue  as  it  stands  among 
us  to-day.  The  historical  section  has  revealed  the 
attitude  of  Baptists  throughout  all  their  past  in  this 
country,  which  is  suggestive  but  not  conclusive  for 
the  present.  Our  duty  and  our  privilege  are  to 
modify  or  reject  any  view  or  practice  held  by  our 
predecessors  as  soon  as  we  become  convinced  that 
something  else  is  more  in  accord  with  the  Scrip- 
tures, or  more  available  for  the  present  time  when 
the  issue  lies  outside  of  the  deliverances  of  the  New 
Testament.  How  does  the  problem  of  the  tithe 
come  to  us? 

I.  Law.  Any  presentation,  in  order  to  be  effective 
in  such  a  field  as  this,  must  have  authority  behind  it. 
Without  that,  the  best  we  can  present  is  only  opinion, 
which  may  or  may  not  appeal  to  our  audience.     If 


54  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG    BAPTISTS 

we  are  to  say  anything  practically  conclusive,  our 
saying  must  have  the  impulse  and  the  impact  of 
some  law  or  principle  or  practice  voicing  a  recog- 
nized authority.  The  Baptist  advocates  of  tithing 
show  this  understanding  constantly.  They  indeed 
discuss  it  to  a  limited  extent,  as  we  also  will,  as  a 
method  separate  from  Scriptural  authority  or  ap- 
proval, but  in  the  main  they  call  these  to  their  aid. 
In  this  they  are  wise,  because  to  Baptists  they  can- 
not say  much  until  they  enfold  their  claim  in  that 
atmosphere.  More  or  less  they  avow  Biblical  au- 
thority, laying  down  a  divine  demand,  direct  or  in- 
direct, in  terms  or  implications,  indifference  to 
which  they  hold  to  be  incompatible  with  good  Chris- 
tian character.  And  I  venture  to  add,  without  de- 
signing to  reflect  on  their  sincerity,  that  they  have 
a  habit  quite  in  evidence  of  contradicting  themselves 
in  this  particular,  innocently,  no  doubt,  but  actually, 
beyond  doubt.  Observation  of  them  through  a 
series  of  years  has  discovered  a  considerable  num- 
ber who  begin  with  a  disavowal  of  any  Scriptural 
authority;  but  before  they  finish  they  assume,  if 
they  do  not  affirm,  what  they  at  first  denied.  They 
get  to  the  point  of  application  or  exhortation,  and 
there  they  speak  of  "  duty  "  and  "  robbing  God  " 
and  similar  things,  all  of  which  are  empty  except 
on  the  affirmation  or  assumption  of  divine  au- 
thority.3  Why  do  they  do  this?  Only,  so  far  as 
I  can  see,  because  they  are  conscious  that  without 
it  their  contention  is  beating  the  air.    Their  eager- 


TITHING  55 

ness  to  reach  the  conscience  sometimes  pushes  them 
into  a  self-contradiction  of  which  they  seem  to  be 
unconscious.  I  have  observed  much  of  this  as  the 
tithing  propaganda  has  become  more  and  more 
eager  among  us;  and  it  is  mentioned  here  not  to 
disparage  those  whom  the  stricture  touches,  but  to 
illustrate  and  impress  the  propriety  of  grounding 
our  discussion  in  authority.  With  this  introduction 
we  proceed  into  more  detail. 

(i)  The  Old  Testament  Law.  If  one  should  ac- 
cumulate all  the  instances  of  advocacy  of  tithing  by 
Baptists  which  avow  the  continuance  of  that  law 
over  the  Christian  life  and  view  them  collectively, 
he  might  well  be  startled  at  the  revelation  of  the 
legalism  still  latent  among  us.  This  remark  un- 
folds into  two  specifications. 

a.  The  Adamic  Law.  I  do  not  remember  to  have 
seen  it  so  titled,  but  the  title  seems  proper.  It 
stands  for  the  contention  that  the  setting  apart  of 
one-tenth  for  God  is,  in  the  nature  of  things,  in- 
volved in  the  order  of  life  of  which  man  is  a  part, 
and  so  comes  down  from  Adam  and  is  therefore 
inalienable;  or  it  affirms  that  God  originally  com- 
manded the  tithe,  as  evidenced  by  its  wide  preva- 
lence among  the  nations  at  an  early  date.  This 
theory  seems  to  be  enveloped  in  such  a  flood  of 
mist  that  its  intangibility  is  its  safety.  It  is  some- 
times likened  to  the  Sabbath  law,  but  the  likeness 
is  fallacious;  for  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  has  a 
recognizable  basis   in   the  physical   constitution   of 


56  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

man,  which  cannot  be  said  of  the  other.  But  to  pur- 
sue this  topic  here  would  prove  wasteful  of  space, 
because  we  shall  soon  reach  ground  where  it  will 
Stand  aside  as  irrelevant. 

When,  however,  the  assumption  is  pressed  that 
the  Creator  commanded  the  tithe  originally,  it  may 
not  be  presumptuous  to  ask  for  the  proof.  The 
usual  appeal  to  the  practice  of  all  nations,  more  or 
less,  as  they  come  into  historic  light,  seems  to  en- 
tangle us ;  for  they  brought  out  of  the  past  other 
things  quite  unanimously  which  we  reject  with  equal 
unanimity.  Referring  to  the  Scriptures  in  which, 
if  they  are  from  God,  reason  proposes  that  that 
original  divine  decree  should  be  recorded,  we  fail  to 
find  it  in  them.  Beginning  at  the  creation  of  man 
and  tracing  the  text  through,  we  find  him  given 
dominion  over  all  creatures  and  removed  from  Eden 
on  account  of  sin ;  we  see  offerings  brought  by  Cain 
and  Abel  with  specifications;  we  observe  Noah 
leading  all  creatures  by  twos  and  sevens  into  the 
ark  for  preservation,  with  possible  reference  to 
sacrifice  as  well  as  service,  and  Noah  offering  sac- 
rifices on  his  disembarkation;  we  hear  God  making 
a  covenant  with  him,  his  sons,  and  "  every  living 
creature  "  for  all  time ;  we  meet  Abram  led  out  by 
God  for  the  preservation  of  right  views  of  the  Most 
High,  which  were  imperiled  by  the  falling  away  of 
the  best  of  humanity,  and  established  with  promises 
in  the  land  to  which  he  was  led ;  we  see  him  coming 
to  great  wealth  and  fame,  setting  up  altars  to  Jehovah, 


TITHING  57 

prepared  to  sacrifice  his  sacred  son  on  demand,  and 
receiving  world-wide  promises  from  God,  including 
his  posterity ;  and  so  on  and  on.  But  we  do  not  find 
anything  about  the  tithe  offered  by  Abraham  or 
required  by  God,  except  in  the  instance  of  Melchize- 
dek,  and  there  we  find  no  evidence  that  he  acted  by 
divine  direction  or  had  divine  approval.  It  was  a 
transaction  with  a  person  so  mysterious  that  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  has  ever  been  explained  to 
the  satisfaction  of  anybody,  except  possibly  the  ex- 
plainer in  rare  instances.  (We  will  return  to  Mel- 
chizedek  later.)  If  we  should  pursue  our  explora- 
tion along  the  way  trod  by  Abraham's  descendants 
until  Moses  led  them  out  of  Egypt,  the  result  would 
be  the  same.  And  even  if  something  more  of  the 
nature  of  that  for  which  we  search  should  come  to 
light,  it  would  be  of  no  practical  value  to  a  Baptist 
for  reasons  to  appear  later. 

b.  The  Mosaic  Law.  This  is  the  common  anchor- 
age of  those  who  appeal  to  the  Old  Testament.  This 
appeal  takes  two  forms,  (a)  The  Direct.  It  affirms 
that  the  tithing  law  of  the  Mosaic  order  has  not 
been  abrogated,  that  it  is  brought  over  and  incor- 
porated into  the  Christian  system.  Among  the 
various  financial  obligations  of  the  Hebrews  to 
Jehovah,  as  King  of  the  nation,  the  tithists  select  the 
tenth  of  increase  applicable  to  the  support  of  the 
temple  service,  and,  ignoring  the  others,  hold  to  this 
as  transferred  to  the  new  dispensation,  applicable  to 
religious  and  charitable  uses.     This  conception  is 


58  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

manipulated  into  several  details,  the  discussion  of 
which  seems  to  be  important  to  those  who  maintain 
it.  But  essentially  these  variations  are  one.  Their 
significance  is  in  their  underlying  principle,  that 
whatever  of  the  Old  Testament  has  not  been  re- 
pealed specifically  in  the  New,  is  thereby  incorpo- 
rated in  the  latter.  This  is  affirmed  fundamentally 
more  or  less,  but  when  it  is  pressed  and  its  implica- 
tions set  forth,  its  advocates  quite  commonly  evade 
its  logic.  To  point  out  some  other  things  not  spe- 
cifically repealed  spoils  their  argument.  For  if  this 
is  true  of  tithing,  by  parity  of  reasoning  it  is  true 
of  other  things  of  the  former  time,  because  they  all 
stand  on  the  same  footing;  but  the  tithist,  when 
confronted  with  the  others  which  he  repudiates, 
loses  necessarily  his  confidence  in  the  contention  for 
tithing,  or  he  fails  in  consistency.  He  falls  into  in- 
consistency through  his  eagerness  to  saddle  the 
tithing  obligation  on  another,  but  when  he  is  shown 
that,  by  the  same  token,  numerous  ancient  obliga- 
tions can  be  saddled  on  to  him  and  strapped  down 
as  tightly  as  he  straps  the  tithe  on  his  brother,  he 
has  occasion  for  reflection.  But  this  view  has  been 
pushing  to  the  front  in  various  quarters  for  two 
or  three  decades.  The  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion adopted  a  report  on  tithing  in  1895,  page  22 
of  the  "  Proceedings,"  that  carried  it  clearly.  In 
1909  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention,  in  the  report 
of  its  "Stewardship  Committee,"  page  118,  while 
declining  to   advocate   any   theory   of   tithing,    did 


TITHING  59 

advocate  the  giving  of  at  least  one-tenth  as  a  Chris- 
tian duty,  to  the  doing  of  which  pastors  and 
churches  were  "  urged  to  lead  the  largest  possible 
number  of  their  members,"  which  seems  to  be  the 
same  thing  for  most  people.  Up  to  the  time  of  this 
writing  the  obligation  of  the  tithe  is  advocated  in 
influential  literature,  official  and  unofficial,  more  or 
less,  and  on  a  variegated  basis,  throughout  the 
country.  Let  those  who  are  interested  in  the  history 
and  argument  of  tithing  in  paganism  and  Judaism 
gratify  their  interest ;  but  for  consistent  Baptists  that 
discussion  is  wasted  practically,  because  their  doc- 
trine of  New  Testament  authority  cuts  the  whole 
scheme  up  and  out  entirely. 

What  is  the  basis  of  New  Testament  authority? 
It  is  not  the  Old  Testament.  Christianity  comes 
from  Judaism  historically  but  not  authoritatively. 
The  New  Testament  is  neither  a  supplement  to  the 
Old  nor  a  reconstruction  of  it.  Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  a  lieutenant  of  Moses  or  of  Adam.  In 
the  Old  Testament  God  spoke  to  his  people  of  a  pre- 
liminary dispensation  with  authority  for  them,  on 
the  basis  of  creation  primarily  and  of  redemption 
foretold  by  types  and  shadows.  In  the  New  he 
speaks  to  his  people  on  the  basis  of  redemption  ac- 
complished, and  this  alone  is  authoritative  for  them. 
Moses  did  not  send  the  Christ  into  the  world,  and 
no  law  of  God  through  Moses  comes  to  Christians. 
What  God  has  to  say  now  to  his  children  on  earth, 
he   says    through   Jesus   the   Christ,   who   is    Lord 


6o  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

because  he  is  Redeemer,  His  authority  is  as  funda- 
mental and  as  complete  as  is  the  redemption  on 
which  it  is  based.  So  he  bore  himself  always  in  his 
relations  to  the  kingdom  of  God  as  he  established  it 
among  men.  In  "  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  "  he 
quoted  the  three  prior  sources  of  authority  in  Israel 
— the  Ten  Commandments,  the  divine  statutes,  and 
the  commentaries  of  the  rabbis — and  so  far  as  con- 
cerns authority,  he  treated  them  all  alike,  affirming 
his  own  authority  aside  from  them,  above  them,  and 
against  them,  answering  each  and  every  one  of  them 
equally,  "  But  I  say  unto  you."  Throughout  his 
earthly  life  he  maintained  this  position  toward  his 
disciples,  taking  up  all  authority  into  himself  and 
projecting  it  from  himself,  without  amendment, 
qualification,  or  restraint  from  any  source  what- 
ever, except  directly  and  independently  from  the 
Father.  He  called  men  to  himself  as  if  Moses  had 
never  existed,  taught  them  that  all  the  issues  of  life 
for  them  were  gathered  up  in  their  relations  to  him- 
self, and  that  they  would  stand  or  fall  on  that  basis. 
This  self-assertion  in  authority  drew  from  heaven 
the  Father's  approval  at  the  transfiguration  in  a 
manner  similar  to  the  Father's  response  to  the  Son's 
consecration  in  humiliation  at  the  baptism.  There 
the  voice  from  the  excellent  glory  said,  "  This  is 
my  beloved  Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  At 
the  transfiguration  the  same  voice  said,  "  This  is 
my  beloved  Son;  hear  him."  These  two  utterances 
are  the  same  in  the  first  element,  and  in  the  second 


6i 


their  divergence  carries  the  doctrine  here  main- 
tained. Of  these  two  heavenly  haiHngs  on  earth, 
the  first  gave  him  approval  in  his  own  service,  and 
the  second  authority  over  all  service.  At  the  trans- 
figuration, IMoses  and  Elijah — lawgiver  and  prophet 
— disappeared  from  earth  in  all  law  relations  never 
to  return.  They  laid  and  left  all  authority  on  earth 
at  the  feet  of  Jesus  the  Christ,  as  they  three  talked 
together  about  the  departure  he  was  soon  to  accom- 
plish at  Jerusalem  as  the  consummation  of  his  sa- 
ving service  in  earthly  relations.  The  only  consistent 
course  then  for  a  Baptist  in  relation  to  the  tithe  is 
to  reject  its  authority,  however  strenuously  or 
mildly  advanced,  in  every  application  to  a  Christian. 
Some  others  who  call  Jesus  Lord,  nearly  all  of 
them,  can  more  consistently  practise  and  propagate 
it  because  they  have  a  different  understanding  of  the 
authority  of  the  Old  Testament.  In  it  they  find 
infant  membership,  State  Church,  hierarchal  or- 
ganization, and  so  on.  The  Baptist  declines  all  of 
these  on  his  understanding  of  the  sole  authority  of 
the  New  Testament.  On  the  same  understanding 
and  by  the  same  process  he  should  do  the  same  with 
the  tithe.  And  he  accepts  it,  if  at  all,  by  the  same 
process  as  the  others  accept  those  other  things ;  he 
takes  it  on  Old  Testament  authorization  and  trims 
it  to  fit. 

(b)  Indirect.  Frequently  those  who  agree  with  the 
preceding  and  guard  themselves  from  the  incon- 
sistency indicated  above,  attempt  approximately  the 


62  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

same  indirectly.  They  assume  that  on  honor  or  for 
love  a  Christian  ought  to  do  as  well  as  a  Jew.  He 
paid  the  tenth  to  the  temple,  and  the  Christian  who 
does  not  appropriate  that  much  to  specific  uses 
(agreement  on  this  point  not  having  been  arranged 
among  the  tithists)  therein  deserves  great  censure 
or  pity.  Now  the  appeal  from  the  duty  of  a  Jew 
to  the  course  of  a  Christian  is  admissible  when 
made  legitimately ;  but  when  it  comes  in  any  garb 
of  authority,  however  modified  and  inferential,  it 
is  not  legitimate.  No  requisition  formerly  made  on 
an  Israelite  sets  any  standard  of  duty,  whether 
founded  in  law  or  honor,  directly  or  indirectly,  for 
a  Christian,  because  the  two  are  not  in  the  same 
system  or  on  the  same  plane.  So,  then,  when  we  are 
told  that  our  consecration  is  not  at  par  because  it 
is  below  or  above  the  divine  standard  set  for  the 
Jew,  we  decline  to  be  tested  on  that  plan.  "  We  are 
not  under  law  but  under  grace."  and  the  latter 
carries  its  own  law  and  duty,  from  which  we  are 
not  to  be  diverted,  and  in  the  use  of  which  we  are 
not  to  be  influenced  by  any  extraneous  consideration. 
The  New  Testament  as  a  whole  supplants  and  abro- 
gates the  Old  Testament  as  a  whole  in  the  entire 
realm  of  duty,  and  answers  independently  and  com- 
pletely every  question  of  conscience  for  every  soul 
in  Christ,  so  far  as  the  Bible  answers  it  at  all. 

(2)  The  New  Testament  Law.  The  tithe  is 
sometimes  advocated  on  the  ground  of  New  Testa- 
ment authority,  in  law  or  its  equivalent,  by  those 


TITHING  63 

who  make  no  legal  or  authoritative  claim  for  the 
Old  Testament.  They  sustain  their  advocacy  on 
one  or  more  of  three  bases — the  sayings  of  Jesus, 
the  New  Testament  subsequent  to  the  Gospels,  and 
the  practice  of  the  early  churches.  Let  us  meet 
them  on  these  grounds. 

a.  The  Sayings  of  Jesus.  He  said  to  certain  Jews 
that  they  did  vv^ell  vi^hen  they  paid  tithes  and  per- 
formed other  duties  under  the  Islw  of  Moses;  and 
the  opinion  is  held,  more  or  less,  that  in  doing  so 
he  laid  down  a  law  for  literal  application  by  his  dis- 
ciples, or  an  implication  which  should  be  effectual 
with  them.  But  consider  that  if  this  application 
of  his  saying  concerning  the  tithe  holds  good  for 
his  disciples,  then  or  now,  it  holds  equally  good  for 
all  the  other  things  which  he  commended  in  the 
Jews.  We  need  not  spend  space  on  details  here ; 
the  response  would  be  essentially  the  same  as  that 
to  the  Adamic  and  Mosaic  claims.  Interpretation 
on  that  plan  is  a  wilderness  or  a  jungle.  How  are 
we  to  avoid  this  jungle  of  Judaism  into  which  it 
leads  us  when  applied  to  some  things  that  Jesus 
said?  We  avoid  by  using  a  better  principle  of  in- 
terpretation. 

Jesus  came  into  the  world  and  went  through  it  a 
Jew.  We  do  not  know  how  far  he  understood  in 
his  youth  the  significance  of  his  life  and  death.  But 
we  do  know  other  things  pertinent  here  because 
they  are  clearly  in  the  record  of  his  actions  and 
utterances.    One  of  these  is  that  his  teaching  gradu- 


64  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG    BAPTISTS 

ally  led  away  from  Judai-sm,  in  harmony  with  that 
originality  of  his  unique  authority  to  which  we  have 
already  adverted.  More  and  more  he  unfolded  his 
designs  to  those  around  him,  but  all  the  way  he  told 
the  most  advanced  of  his  disciples  that  he  was  not 
telling  them  all  that  they  would  need  to  know  after 
he  had  gone.  In  this  situation  he  met  Jews  on 
Jewish  ground  when  as  such  they  came  to  him  with 
questions  of  duty.  That  was  perfectly  consistent. 
Nothing  else  would  have  been.  In  the  nature  of 
the  case  he  must  do  that.  But  side  by  side  with 
that,  another  thing  is  equally  clear.  Jesus  never 
mingled  such  counsels  as  those  just  mentioned  with 
his  counsels  to  his  disciples,  Jews  though  they  were. 
From  the  beginnings  of  his  teaching  of  disciples  he 
seems  to  have  refrained  carefully  from  every  utter- 
ance that  might  subsequently  suggest  to  them  to 
mix  Judaism  with  Christianity.  This  seems  to  be 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  things  in  his  association 
with  them,  that  he  could,  as  he  did,  avoid  rupture 
with  them  as  Jews  while  teaching  them  all  the  way 
as  if  they  were  Christians,  holding  them  all  the 
time,  in  spite  of  their  prejudices  and  blindness  that 
seem  to  us  extraordinary,  holding  them  to  that 
upward  path  and  higher  outlook  that  would  usher 
them  through  Pentecost  on  to  a  plane  of  thought 
where  Judaism  would  fall  away  from  them  and 
they  would  soon  move  out  into  Christianity  effect- 
ively differentiated  from  the  religion  in  which  they 
had  been  bred. 


TITHING  65 

Ponder,  then,  this  significant  fact  that  whatever 
Jesus  may  have  said  to  Jews,  as  such,  concerning 
the  claims  of  the  laws  of  Moses,  he  never  said  one 
word  of  that  character  to  his  disciples.*  He  talked 
to  the  men  around  him  in  two  worlds.  In  the 
Jewish  world  he  approved  and  advised  or  com- 
manded conformity  to  the  regulations  of  the  national 
religion,  even  where  his  own  healing  grace  had 
opened  the  way  to  make  a  choice.  (See  Luke  5 :  14.) 
But  in  the  discipleship  world,  which  he  knew  to  be 
the  preliminary  Christian  world,  he  did  nothing  of 
that  kind ;  he  ignored  all  such  obligation  as  com- 
pletely as  if  Moses  had  never  existed.  Under  the 
principle  of  interpretation  which  w-e  have  laid  down, 
the  only  one  that  saves  us  from  confusing  entangle- 
ments, these  facts  come  out  clearly,  and  come  to 
warn  us  that  he  who  lays  the  tithe,  or  any  other 
Judaic  obligation,  on  a  disciple  of  Christ,  misap- 
plies the  Scriptures.  It  also  exposes  the  folly  en- 
folded in  that  fine  phrase,  when  it  is  taken  without 
qualification,  "  What  Christ  commends  is  my  com- 
mand." 

b.  The  New  Testament  Subsequent  to  the  Gos- 
pels. Appeal  is  made  to  this  with  sufficient  fre- 
quency and  confidence  to  warrant  us  in  pausing  with 
it  long  enough  to  consider  the  claim  that  the  letters 
and  other  portions  of  this  Testament  after  the  Gos- 
pels have  a  tithing  outlook.  What  do  we  learn  from 
Melchizedek,  Paul,  Peter,  and  James? 

Melchizedek  is  a  mystery  that  I  do  not  attempt  to 


66  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

solve;  but  he  is  so  charming  a  mystery  for  those 
who  seek  to  find  something  in  the  New  Testament 
by  which  to  bring  us  into  obedience  to  the  tithe, 
that  the  need  appears  to  indicate  the  error  under 
which  they  labor.  In  the  seventh  chapter  of  He- 
brews, addressed  distinctively  to  the  Hebrew  peo- 
ple, the  statement  occurs  that  Abraham  paid  tithes 
to  Melchizedek,  and  the  conclusion  is  assumed  that 
this  establishes  the  tithing  obligation  for  God's  peo- 
ple in  all  times  and  under  all  systems.  I  say  this  is 
assumed  because  no  hint  of  it  appears  in  the  book 
itself.  The  assumption  arises  from  an  erroneous  in- 
terpretation, springing  presumably  from  a  mistaken 
understanding  of  the  purpose  of  the  book.  That 
purpose  is  to  exalt  Christ  above  the  preceding  rep- 
resentatives of  divine  authority  and  the  priesthood 
on  which  their  authority  rested.  As  priest  and 
king  he  is  of  another  order.  Melchizedek  is  brought 
in  to  illustrate  the  difiFerentiated  order,  not  to  es- 
tablish it.  The  purpose  is  not  in  any  way  to  discuss 
details  of  offerings,  especially  to  transfer  a  particu- 
lar from  one  system  to  another.  The  purpose  is 
to  deliver  Jewish  Christians  from  a  feeling  of  obli- 
gation to  their  national  ritual,  and  the  point  made  is 
that  Father  Abraham  himself,  in  his  first  recorded 
offering  of  a  tenth,  went  to  a  representative  of  "  the 
Most  High  God  "  entirely  separate  from  the  chosen 
people,  and  that  thus  the  Hebrew  priesthood  in  a 
sense  had  been  subordinated  to  an  order  not  recog- 
nized by  Judaism.    The  result  is  not  to  establish  any 


TITHING  67 

feature  of  any  former  system,  but  to  disestablish 
Judaism.  This  tithing  by  Abraham,  then,  comes 
in  only  incidentally,  and  has  no  essential  significance. 
The  only  way  to  give  it  any  force  for  our  present 
purpose  is  by  giving  Melchizedek  coordinate  au- 
thority with  Christ  or  greater. 

Paul  is  different ;  not  much  mystery  about  him. 
His  distinctive  service,  both  as  a  missionary  evan- 
gelist and  a  differentiating  teacher,  was  in  leading 
Christianity  out  of  Judaism  into  the  breadth  of  the 
world.  With  every  fiber  of  his  being  loyal  to  Juda- 
ism, both  in  doctrine  and  sympathy,  his  breaking 
with  it  was  as  the  breaking  of  his  bones.  Why  has 
not  some  one  written  a  book  on  Paul  the  conserva- 
tive? He  was  radically  conservative  toward  Juda- 
ism. He  held  instinctively  to  every  shred  of  it 
until  his  hold  was  broken  by  the  new  life  poured 
into  him,  the  new  law  laid  on  him,  and  the  new  glory 
that  filled  him,  by  Christ.  What  did  Paul  say  about 
tithing  as  conserved  by  Judaism  and  continued 
from  it,  or  in  any  other  way?  Nothing,  absolutely 
nothing,  and  he  had  first-class  opportunities  to  say 
something.  He  was  the  leader  in  the  first  general 
contribution  and  distribution  by  Christians,  in  con- 
nection with  which  he  appears  as  an  adroit  and  en- 
thusiastic collecting  agent.  He  laid  on  the  Gentile 
churches  their  obligation  to  answer  the  spiritual 
contribution  from  Judea  by  a  material  contribution 
to  Judea  in  distress.  He  pressed  that  claim  home. 
He  instructed  the  contributors  how  to  proceed  in 


68  STEWARDSHIP    AMONG   BAPTISTS 

the  business  in  order  to  make  it  successful.  He 
aroused  emulation  between  churches.  In  several 
ways  he  put  pressure  on  them  toward  a  large  offer- 
ing in  right  spirit  and  through  proper  processes. 

Many  of  those  to  whom  he  appealed  had  come  out 
of  Judaism,  and  some  of  them  perhaps  had  not  yet 
come  all  the  way  out.  In  some  things  he  made  the 
old  order  his  channel  of  approach  to  them  after  they 
were  Christians.  Why  did  he  not  utilize  the  tithe 
to  aid  his  call  for  contributions?  Or,  to  be  more 
consistent,  why  did  he  not  lead  the  churches  to  de- 
vote a  tenth  to  sustaining  their  own  worship,  and 
afterward  to  contribute  other  portions  to  other  ob- 
jects, including  the  relief  of  Judea?  Or,  in  another 
connection,  when  urging  the  duty  to  support  preach- 
ers, why  did  he  not  refer  to  the  tithe,  specifically 
applicable  here  if  anywhere,  and  where  he  did  refer 
to  the  ox  treading  out  the  grain?  Why  all  this 
silence  of  Paul  in  his  various  discussions  of  property 
stewardship?  I  know  of  no  other  answer  so  rea- 
sonable as  that  he  had  come  out  of  Judaism  and  was 
leading  others  out  of  it  so  completely  that  he  could 
not  appeal  to  it  as  authority  in  relation  to  Christian 
duty. 

Turning  to  Peter  and  James  we  find  no  new  light, 
though  with  more  reason  we  might  expect  it.  Paul 
at  least  once  openly  and  strenuously  opposed  and 
rebuked  Peter  for  his  compromises  with  Judaism, 
leading  Barnabas  and  others  astray.  (Gal.  2  :  ii- 
21.)     But  in  Peter's  two  letters  no  trace  of  a  claim 


TITHING  69 

for  Judaic  law  or  ritual  appears ;  though  in  the 
first  (3  :  5,  6)  he  cites  the  holy  women  of  the  past 
as  examples  for  emulation  by  Christian  women ;  and 
he  urges  hospitality  on  all  "  as  good  stewards  of 
the  manifold  grace  of  God"  (4  :  10),  but  on  the 
basis  of  "  ability."  James  led  Peter  into  the  conduct 
for  which  Paul  rebuked  him,  and  was  of  the  Jeru- 
salem type ;  but  his  letter  to  the  twelve  tribes  scat- 
tered abroad  sounds  no  legalistic  note,  although  it 
runs  to  some  points  at  which  connection  with  tith- 
ing would  have  been  easy  if  desired. 

c.  The  Practice  of  the  Early  Churches.  The 
claim  is  advanced  that  the  early  churches,  under 
apostolic  leadership,  practised  tithing,  which  they 
had  brought  over  from  Judaism,  with  no  evidence 
of  disapproval  by  the  leaders.  It  might  be  sufficient 
to  deny  this  and  wait  for  proof.  But  a  more  con- 
siderate course  is  to  point  out  that  those  churches 
were  much  entangled  in  Judaism  for  a  while,  as 
were  the  apostles  with  them.  They  did  not  at  first 
regard  themselves  as  wholly  separated  from  Juda- 
ism by  their  Christian  faith.  They  frequented  the 
temple,  and  it  may  be — indeed  it  is  almost  certain — 
that  they  paid  temple  tithe,  but  they  did  it  as  Jews 
and  as  a  part  of  Judaism.  Paul's  prime  problem 
with  them  sometimes  was  to  work  this  kind  of  Juda- 
ism out  of  them.  It  was  the  same  problem  sub- 
stantially as  that  of  Jesus  earlier,  and  the  process 
took  the  same  general  course. 

The  assertion  also  is  made  that  the  immediately 

F 


70  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG    BAPTISTS 

succeeding  generations  of  disciples  were  tithers. 
This,  if  true,  would  be  of  no  weight  to  a  clear- 
headed Baptist,  because  he  recognizes  nothing  au- 
thoritative in  that  field.  In  relation  to  it  he  sepa- 
rates from  the  Pedobaptist  as  he  does  in  relation  to 
the  Old  Testament.  But  it  might  have  weight  as 
supporting  the  claim  that  the  apostolic  churches 
tithed  on  a  Christian  basis.  Therefore  inquiry  on 
this  point  was  made  of  Dr.  Henry  C.  Vedder,  and 
he  replied :  "  I  can  find  no  mention  of  tithing,  as  a 
Christian  practice,  earlier  than  the  so-called  '  Con- 
stitution of  the  Holy  Apostles,'  a  compilation  that 
cannot  be  earlier  than  the  Council  of  Nice  (325), 
and  the  seventh  book,  in  which  this  occurs,  is 
thought  by  scholars  to  be  somewhat  older  than  the 
first  six  books.  Chapter  XXIX  of  book  VII  says, 
among  other  things,  '  Thou  shalt  give  the  tenth  of 
thy  increase  to  the  orphan,  and  to  the  widow,  and 
to  the  poor,  and  to  the  stranger.'  But  the  patristic 
literature  is  almost  silent  on  the  subject,  and  no 
authority  on  early  church  history  that  I  am  familiar 
with,  holds  that  any  serious  attempt  was  ever  made 
to  introduce  the  tithing  system  during  the  first  three 
centuries;  and  no  attempt  to  make  the  system  a 
general  one  even  later."  The  reader  may  see  that 
the  tithe  mentioned  above  was  entirely  for  charities, 
not  for  the  purpose  to  which  it  was  devoted  under 
Moses. 

Returning  now  to  the  "  Acts  of  the  x\postles  " 
prior  to  Paul's  prominence,  we  carry  our  study  of 


TITHING  71 

tithing  to  its  conclusion.  The  conclusion  is  placed 
here  because  here  is  the  climax  logically  of  the  evi- 
dence. In  this  section  of  Acts  the  Christian  life 
appears  in  its  primitive  freshness,  in  the  Jerusalem 
atmosphere  and  with  its  Jewish  connection  relatively 
unbroken.  What  appears  here  sends  its  light  for- 
ward and  backward  and  all  around  on  the  problem 
before  us.  What  light  shines  here?  The  first  item 
in  evidence  is  in  2  :  44,  45.  The  believers  had  all 
things  in  common,  "  and  sold  their  possessions  and 
goods,  and  parted  them  to  all,  as  every  man  had 
need."  The  only  reference  to  Moses  is  in  3  :  22, 
23,  where  he  is  quoted  as  predicting  the  coming  of  a 
prophet,  Christ,  who  is  to  be  heard  in  all  things 
under  penalty  of  destruction.  Next  comes  the  pas- 
sage 4  :  31  to  5  :  II.  Pentecost,  impelling  to  the 
common  fund  for  the  common  need  and  so  leading 
to  the  sale  of  property  for  this  purpose,  opened  the 
way  to  the  hypocrisy  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira. 
Peter  said  to  them  that  their  title  to  their  posses- 
sions was  intact  with  no  external  pressure  on  them 
to  part  with  it,  or  any  fraction  of  it,  this  freedom 
setting  the  edge  on  their  guilt  in  lying.  Turning 
next  to  II  :  29  we  reach  Antioch,  where  every  one 
gave  according  to  ability,  with  no  hint  of  anything 
but  free  will.  And,  finally,  the  issue  raised  by  the 
Judaizers  was  disposed  of  deliberately  by  Jerusa- 
lem, in  a  communication  to  the  Gentiles.  This  com- 
munication proposed  only  abstinence  from  fornica- 
tion, idolatry,  and  eating  blood  in  two  particulars; 


J2  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

and  declined  totally  the  imposition  of  Jewish  au- 
thority on  Gentile  Christians.  (15  :  1-33.) 

2.  Method.  Many  advocates  of  tithing  disavow 
the  legal  basis.  They  favor  it  as  a  method  because 
it  seems  to  be  workable  and  to  promise  that  increase 
of  contributions  desired  by  all  friends  of  good  causes. 
They  hold  that  the  part  of  wisdom  in  the  present 
situation  is  to  accept  it  as  a  working  basis,  try  to 
bring  every  one  up  to  it  without  making  it  a  maxi- 
mum for  those  who  are  able  or  disposed  to  go 
higher.  Without  prejudice  and  appreciative  of  any 
proposal  looking  toward  gain  to  the  treasury  of 
the  Lord,  we  may  briefly  consider  the  two  compre- 
hensive advantages  claimed  for  it. 

(i)  Financial  Efificiency.  It  gets  the  money.  A 
relatively  large  number  of  witnesses  testifies  that 
since  adopting  tithing  they  have  contributed  more 
liberally  than  before.  That  is  undoubtedly  true,  and 
is  good  as  far  as  it  goes.  But  it  starts  several  ques- 
tions and  suggestions. 

The  question  arises,  Has  this  improvement  come 
from  the  tithe  or  from  the  systematic  giving  which 
the  adoption  of  any  definite  basis  would  bring  up  to 
the  limit  of  that  basis?  Law  being  now  excluded, 
and  tithing  viewed  merely  as  a  method,  the  sug- 
gestion is  ventured  that  if  the  tenth  gets  more 
money  without  injustice  to  the  giver,  that  proves 
that  he  was  not  doing  his  whole  duty  before ;  but  it 
does  not  prove  that  he  is  doing  his  whole  duty  now, 
and  if  it  fails  to  bring  him  up  to  doing  his  whole 


TITHING  73 

duty  now,  it  is  a  failure  at  the  top  as  a  money- 
getter.  The  suggestion  is  also  offered  that,  as  peo- 
ple are  constituted  usually,  a  strong  temptation  is 
involved  to  make  the  proposed  minimum  the  actual 
maximum.  This  is  a  point  difficult  or  impossible 
to  prove  on  any  large  scale,  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  any  one  will  deny  its  forceful  pertinence.^ 
The  man  who  took  the  tenth  honestly  as  a  minimum 
from  which  he  ascended  with  the  increase  of  ability 
or  consecration,  brings  a  cheering  report,  to  be  sure, 
but  how  many  report  who  have  not  gone  higher? 
They  are  the  silent  partners  in  this  connection,  and 
they  may  have  reasons  for  their  silence  of  which 
they  are  not  proud.  Their  side  of  the  balance-sheet 
is  ignored,  but  it  may  be  the  larger  side. 

Probably  it  is  impossible  to  show  by  tangible  data 
that  any  given  hundred  persons  adopting  tithing  will 
produce  a  larger  aggregate  income  than  the  same 
persons  would  have  produced  if  they  had  all  adopted 
systematic  giving  on  the  basis  of  a  flexible  percent- 
age and  been  called  by  the  highest  motives  to  go  as 
high  as  they  could,  each  for  himself  in  the  fear  and 
love  of  God.  No  sane  person  will  dogmatize  here, 
but  the  proposition  is  confiHently  advanced  that 
some  claims  for  tithing  as  a  money-getter,  based  on 
occasional  favorable  reports  and  disregarding  the 
many  unfavorable  or  non-committal,  are  more 
optimistic  than  reliable.  My  judgment  is  that  the 
strong  probability  at  this  point  favors  the  New 
Testament  plan,  to  be  considered   later,  as  better 


74  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

even  for  immediate  financial  results  than  the  tithing 
plan.  When  the  tenth  is  proposed  flat,  with  no  alter- 
native, it  is  inevitable  that  some,  presumably  many, 
will  evade  because  it  seems  to  them  exorbitant.  The 
result  is,  no  matter  how  erroneous  their  view  may 
be,  that  they  adopt  no  system  at  all,  possibly  make 
no  response.  But  if  liberty  had  been  encouraged, 
or  even  recognized,  some  or  many  might  have  been 
started  on  a  lower  level  and  by  the  inspiration  of 
the  results  of  system,  however  humble  the  starting- 
place,  might  have  been  induced  to  the  tenth  and  be- 
yond. It  is  not  conceded,  therefore,  that  fixing  the 
tenth  or  any  other  fraction,  as  a  minimum,  is  the 
best  means  of  getting  money.  The  determining 
elements  may  be  elsewhere,  possibly  out  of  sight. 
To  say  "  at  least  one-tenth  "  is  an  evasion  rather 
than  an  addition,  and  makes  no  essential  difference. 
For  so  far  as  any  one  is  authorized  to  fix  a  mini- 
mum, he  is  authorized  to  fix  a  maximum,  or  any 
compromise  between  these.  We  may  discover  later, 
if  we  have  not  already,  that  no  one  has  such  author- 
ity, in  law  or  logic,  for  another;  and  not  for  him- 
self when  his  fixing  does  not  fit  those  New  Testa- 
ment principles  soon  to  appear. 

(2)  Spiritual  Benefits.  All  agree  that  the  use  of 
money  has  spiritual  value,  but  few  perhaps  realize 
the  great  spiritual  possibilities  in  such  use  when 
carried  into  the  high  places  of  sacrifice  on  right 
principles.  This  brings  us  to  the  question,  What  is 
there  about  one-tenth  that  sets  it  above  other  frac- 


TITHING  75 

tions  for  spiritual  value?  On  legalistic  grounds  we 
can  account  for  these  effects,  but  we  have  abandoned 
those  grounds.  Practically,  how  are  we  to  account 
for  the  spiritual  effects  claimed  by  tithists  for  tith- 
ing? While  not  necessarily  accepting  all  of  this 
claim  at  its  face  value,  still  we  would  be  unreason- 
able as  well  as  ungracious  to  deny  it  entirely.  We 
readily  grant  that  very  appreciable  consciousness  of 
spiritual  strength  and  joy  comes  to  some  tithists 
which  they  ascribe  to  this  source.  What  is  to  be 
said  to  that? 

First  of  all,  we  say  that  probably  some  of  it. 
possibly  much  of  it,  results  from  the  system  and  not 
the  tithing.  An  appreciable  amount  of  the  tithing 
literature  confuses  these  two,  assuming  that  system 
and  tithing  are  synonymous,  and  this  assumption, 
impossible  to  candid  reason,  captivates  and  misleads 
some  sincere  but  not  critical  readers.  It  may  con- 
vince more  of  them  than  a  legitimate  argument 
would.  But  it  is  not  admitted  here.  It  is  not  true. 
The  only  rational  ground  on  which  more  spiritual 
value  may  be  claimed  pro  rata  for  one  fraction  than 
another  is  that  the  giver  believes  that  the  larger 
fraction  has  a  divine  authorization,  and,  conse- 
quently, a  divine  blessing  not  possessed  by  the  lesser 
one.  A  strain  of  this  legalism,  shading  into  spiritual 
pride,  may  run  through  that  experience.  This  does 
not  invalidate  the  experience  in  itself,  either  as  sin- 
cere in  the  recipient  or  even  as  divine  in  its  source. 
God  graciously  accommodates  himself  to  our  defects 


76  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

in  many  ways.  He  permits  us  to  get  spiritual  good, 
or  what  seems  to  us  to  be  such,  through  our  misun- 
derstanding, responding  to  the  good  intention  in  us. 
The  legalistic  tithist  may  get  the  benefit  of  the  divine 
condescension  in  his  tithing  on  this  principle  as  we 
all  may  in  some  things.  But  where  that  is  not  true 
the  spiritual  advance  may  be  attributable  to  conse- 
cration coming  into  a  clearer  showing  or  into  an 
actual  advance  on  its  previous  achievements.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  the  question  is  pressed,  If  one- 
tenth  makes  advance  on  one-eleventh  or  less,  why 
will  not  one-ninth  make  a  corresponding  advance  on 
one-tenth  in  the  same  elements?  I  see  no  evidence 
that  it  will  not,  either  in  reason  or  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Finally,  these  experiences  are  not  limited  to 
any  one  fraction.  Offerings  of  other  grades,  higher 
and  lower,  have  been  followed  by  the  same  experi- 
ences; which  also  have  come  where  all  system  has 
been  ignored  and  offerings  made  impulsively  and 
perchance,  in  the  opinion  of  some  wise  observers, 
foolishly  or  unjustly. 


Ill 

NEW   TESTAAIENT  PRINCIPLES 

The  authority  of  the  New  Testament  is  deposited 
largely  in  principles.  Its  ground  principle  is  loyalty 
or  fidelity  or  obedience  to  God  in  Christ.  The  whole 
structure  of  Christian  character  rests  invariably  and 
completely  on  this  foundation.  Above  it  certain  less 
fundamental,  but  not  less  essential  principles  rise, 
which  in  their  varied  applications  constitute  the 
superstructure  of  the  character.  Every  specific  com- 
mand is  based  on  a  principle  of  life,  is  never  arbi- 
trary; and,  with  little  exception,  principles  are 
declared,  fidelity  to  them  required,  and  their  appli- 
cation left  adjustable  by  affectionate  consecration 
and  practical  common  sense. 

In  relation  to  stewardship  the  whole  authority 
of  the  New  Testament  resides  in  principles.  It  pro- 
mulgates no  invariable  law,  no  inflexible  rule, 
whether  brought  over  from  a  preceding  dispensa- 
tion or  originally  issued  by  itself.  This  being  true, 
a  very  important  question,  to  which  we  now  come, 
is  this :  What  are  the  New  Testament  principles  of 
stewardship  in  property,  and  how  are  they  to  be 
applied?  In  answering  this  question  we  solve  the 
problem  of  stewardship. 

77 


78  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 


I.    THE  PRINCIPLES  DEFINED 

(i)  Totality.  This  means  that  the  Christian  is 
responsible  to  God  for  the  whole  of  himself  and 
all  that  is  at  his  disposal.  The  totality  of  his  per- 
sonality, his  powers,  and  his  possessions  he  holds  in 
trust  for  his  Creator,  Redeemer,  and  Benefactor. 
His  physical  strength,  his  mental  resources,  his  so- 
cial influence,  his  time,  his  money,  from  the  core 
of  his  consciousness  and  his  conscience,  outward 
through  every  segment  of  all  that  he  is  and  has, 
to  the  outermost  limit  of  actuality  and  possibility, 
through  the  best  culture  and  the  best  consecration 
possible  in  him — all  these  come  under  this  principle. 
They  make  a  large  demand.  It  is  a  large  demand 
for  the  smallest  human  being.  Any  one,  large  or 
small,  who  claims  that  he  is  meeting  it  completely 
throughout  its  whole  course,  or  that  he  ever  will  do 
so  in  this  Hfe,  takes  a  great  risk.  To  touch  it  under 
law  is  to  be  struck  by  lightning.  Nevertheless,  the 
highest  privilege  for  all  is  to  accept  it,  magnify  it, 
operate  it,  and  glorify  it  under  grace. 

Matthew  lo  :  38.  He  that  takes  not  his  cross  and 
follows  after  me  is  not  worthy  of  me. 

Mark  8  :  34.  Whoever  will  come  after  me,  let  him 
deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  [daily.  Luke  9  : 
23]  and  follow  me. 

Luke  9  :  24.  For  whoever  will  save  his  life  shall  lose 
it;  but  whoever  will  lose  his  life  for  my  sake,  the  same 
shall  save  it. 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  79 

Romans  6  :  18.  Being  then  made  free  from  sin.  ye 
became  the  servants  of  righteousness. 

I  Corinthians  6  :  19,  20.  Know  ye  not  that  your 
body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  ye  have 
trom  God?  And  ye  are  not  your  own,  for  ye  were 
bought  with  a  price  [the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  a 
lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot,  i  Peter  i  : 
19]  glorify  God  therefore  in  your  body. 

1  Corinthians  10  :  31.  Whether  then  ye  eat  or  drink, 
or  whatever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God. 

2  Corinthians  5  :  14,  15.  For  the  love  of  Christ  con- 
strains us;  because  we  thus  judge,  that  if  one  died  for 
all.  then  all  were  dead.  And  he  died  for  all  that  they 
who  live  should  not  henceforth  live  to  themselves,  but 
unto  him  who  died  for  them  and  rose  again. 

Colossians  3  :  17.  Whatever  ye  do  in  word  or  deed, 
do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  to 
God  and  the  Father  through  him. 

Acts  4  :  34,  35.  Neither  was  there  any  among  them 
that  lacked;  for  as  many  as  were  possessors  of  lands  or 
houses,  sold  them  and  brought  the  prices  of  the  things 
that  were  sold,  and  laid  them  down  at  the  apostles'  feet; 
and  distribution  was  made  unto  every  man  as  he  had 
need.     (Read  the  connection,  4  :  29  to  5  :  16.) 

(2)  Personality.  Focalize  now  this  principle  of 
totality  of  consecration  on  money  and  its  equiva- 
lents. This  is  not  to  put  the  material  possessions 
into  a  water-tight  compartment  and  try  to  sail  it 
separately  from  the  rest  of  the  ship  of  life.  That  is 
forbidden  by  the  fact  that  property  is  intimately  as- 
socia^^ed  with  personality  and  personality  is  primar>'. 
This  brings  us  to  the  starting-place  in  the  applica- 


8o  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

tion  of  Stewardship  in  property.  The  money  with- 
out the  man  is  negligible  if  not  despicable.  The 
general  proposition  is  safe  for  wide  application  that 
what  one  is,  is  more  important  than  what  he  has. 
We  are  frequently  told  that  the  man  is  more  than 
his  money,  and  therefore  he  should  not  permit  him- 
self to  become  enslaved  to  property  or  to  the  acqui- 
sition of  it.  But  the  application  to  the  distribution 
is  not  so  common  though  equally  true,  pertinent,  and 
important. 

One  of  the  great  perils  of  the  Christian  life  is 
getting  its  giving  tied  up  in  a  money-bag.  This 
peril  seems  to  increase  as  one  becomes  wealthy  and 
systematic.  When  one  does  this,  when  he  settles 
into  seeing  his  duty  and  privilege  of  benevolence 
solely  or  chiefly  in  his  check-book,  he  is  on  the  way 
to  great  disaster  of  character.  God  is  not  money 
and  man  is  not  made  in  the  image  of  money.  God 
is  spirit  and  man  is  made  in  his  image.  Giving 
money  can  never  take  the  place  of  giving  self  to 
men  for  God  any  more  than  in  giving  self  to  God 
for  men.  The  New  Testament  sets  this  out  con- 
spicuously both  by  its  utterance  and  its  silence.  It 
most  impressively  exalts  the  individual  as  primary, 
and  assumes,  wherever  it  does  not  afifirm,  the  reg- 
nancy  of  personality  in  the  whole  scope  and  scheme 
of  Christianity.  Correspondingly  it  is  impressively 
silent  on  details  of  finance,  how  to  accumulate  and 
how  to  distribute  property.  It  leaves  this  field  so 
bare  of  attention,  on  the  low  plane  on  which  the 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  8l 

exaltation  of  the  personal  character,  the  spiritual 
life,  places  the  supreme  meaning  of  salvation,  that 
the  spiritually  minded  may  be  in  danger  of  despi- 
sing instead  of  utilizing  the  dollar  in  relation  to  the 
Christian  experience.  So  true  is  this  that  to  bring 
together  all  parts  of  the  New  Testament  which 
magnify  the  man  in  his  character,  his  spiritual  life, 
and  in  the  personal  service  flowing  from  this,  ex- 
clusive of  the  use  of  money,  would  be  to  reproduce 
a  large  part  of  the  book.  Only  a  few  salient  pas- 
sages are  presented. 

Romans  14  :  12.  So  then  every  one  of  us  shall  give 
account  of  himself  to  God. 

2  Corinthians  8  :  5.  They  first  gave  their  own  selves 
to  the  Lord,  and  unto  us  by  the  will  of  God. 

Colossians  3:1.  If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ, 
seek  those  things  which  are  above,  where  Christ  sits 
on  the  right  hand  of  God. 

2  Corinthians  4  :  17,  18.  A  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory,  while  we  look  not  at  the  things 
which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen. 

I  John  3  :  2,  3.  When  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be 
like  him.  .  .  And  every  one  who  has  this  hope  in  him 
purifies  himself,  even  as  he  is  pure. 

(3)  Respectability.  The  application  of  this  princi- 
ple falls  on  the  individual  in  himself  and  in  those 
for  whose  conditions  he  is  financially  responsible. 
In  himself  respectability  means  that  he  should  use 
money  for  his  personal  equipment  for  the  Lord's 


82  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

work  with  reference  to  proper  human  standards,  in 
harmony  with  those  divine  standards  which  are  al- 
ways supreme.  Christian  usefulness  must  consider 
the  preferences  and  even  the  prejudices  of  those 
in  relation  with  whom  it  finds  its  field.  A  fine  ex- 
ample of  sane  and  sensitive  self-immolation  has  left 
this  word,  "  All  things  to  all  men  that  I  may  save 
some."  Paul  did  not  mean  that  he  would  be  any- 
thing essentially  wrong,  or  in  any  way  conflicting 
with  any  divine  standard  of  conduct,  in  order  to 
save  any  or  many.  He  used  this  extreme  state- 
ment conservatively,  assuming  those  limitations  in 
its  application  appearing  on  the  divine  side.  And 
the  One  higher  than  Paul  exhibited  in  his  life  the 
same  thing.  He  traveled  afoot  on  the  dusty  road 
with  the  people  who  went  afoot  and  he  dined  with  a 
ruler  in  the  style  of  the  ruler,  and  in  either  case 
he  was  doing  the  will  of  the  Father  as  much  as  in 
the  other.  Here  is  the  principle  defined  for  self. 
The  same  is  to  be  applied  in  relation  to  those  for 
whom  the  steward  is  responsible  financially,  viz.,  his 
family.  The  same  Paul  who  would  be  all  things  to 
all  for  their  good,  at  the  same  time  plainly  held  that  a 
Christian,  who  failed  to  provide  for  his  own  family, 
denied  the  faith  and  was  worse  than  a  heathen.  It 
is  a  primary  point  of  Christian  stewardship  that 
the  head  of  a  family  keep  his  family  respectable 
according  to  Christian  standards  of  respectability. 
And  this  applies  not  alone  to  physical  provision,  but 
also,  so  far  as  conditions  and  resources  permit,  to 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  83 

the  fullest  equipment  of  every  cbilcl  for  the  service 
of  God  in  whatever  field  he  may  be  called. 

Matthew  17  :  26,  27.  Then  the  children  are  free. 
Notwithstanding,  lest  we  should  offend  them — go — take 
up  the  fish — find  a  piece  of  money;  that  take  and  give 
to  them  for  me  and  thee. 

Acts  6  :  3.  Look  out  among  you  seven  men  of  honest 
report,  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  wisdom,  whom  we 
may  appoint  over  this  business. 

2  Corinthians  8  :  20,  21.  Avoiding  this,  that  no  man 
should  blame  us  in  this  abundance  which  is  adminis- 
tered by  us;  providing  for  honest  things,  not  only  in 
the  sight  of  the  Lord  but  also  in  the  sight  of  men. 

Colossians  4  :  5.  Walk  in  wisdom  toward  those  who 
are  without,  redeeming  the  time. 

I  Thessalonians  4:11,  12.  Study  to  be  quiet  and  to 
do  your  own  business  and  to  work  with  your  own 
hands,  that  ye  may  walk  becomingly  toward  those  who 
are  without. 

I  Timothy  3:7.  [A  bishop]  must  have  a  good  re- 
port from  those  who  are  without,  lest  he  fall  into  re- 
proach and  the  snare  of  the  devil.  (See  the  whole 
connection;  also  Titus  entire  and  i  Peter  2  :  9-20.) 

(4)  Prosperity.  The  Lord's  hand  is  in  all  the 
affairs  of  his  people.  He  regards  all  their  needs  and 
manipulates  all  their  interests.  He  works  through 
laws  that  he  has  made,  and  he  works  through  mira- 
cles whenever  he  chooses.  He  lets  those  who  trust 
him  go  on  sometimes  as  if  he  were  not,  and  at  other 
times  he  shows  himself  in  ways  such  that  they  are 


84  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

sure  they  see  him.  God  is  just  as  really  in  the 
physical  and  financial  life  of  his  people  as  he  ever 
was.  But  Christianity  is  on  a  different  and  a 
higher  plane,  with  another  and  a  better  plan,  than 
former  systems  were.  In  Judaism  the  divine  revela- 
tion and  providence  hovered  the  ground  and  laid 
down  rules  of  adjustment  akin  to  those  of  the 
world.  In  Christianity  the  divine  revelation  and 
providence  hover  the  heavens,  set  everything  to  the 
standard  of  the  spiritual,  and  adjust  the  problem  of 
prosperity  above  the  material  level.  God  now  offers 
no  material  premium  on  consecration  of  material 
things.  The  eye  that  looks  for  property  return  on 
the  basis  of  property  consecration  will  not  see  any 
divine  light;  the  soul  that  offers  any  bargain  of 
this  for  that  in  financial  exchange,  under  the  name 
of  stewardship,  will  get  no  response  from  God.  He 
does  not  trade  with  his  people.  Redemption 
abolishes  trading. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  some  bearing  the  Christian 
name  have  not  fully  grasped  this  truth,  but  are 
trying  to  "  keep  tab "  on  providence  with  their 
own  balance-sheets.  They  are  mistaken.  Whoever 
teaches  that  this  or  that  fraction  of  income,  or 
anything  else,  given  to  God,  under  whatever  form, 
will  get  back  something  or  other  in  the  same 
kind,  is  teaching  an  obsolete  system  which  is 
treason  against  the  cross  of  Christ.  But  at  the 
same  time  Christianity  provides  for  material  pros- 
perity  as    a   basis    for   stewardship.      This    would 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  85 

stand  approved  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  its 
principles  and  spirit,  its  equity  and  benevolence.  To 
forge  a  cast-iron  collar  for  all  to  wear,  regardless 
of  differing  conditions  and  surroundings,  would  re- 
pudiate the  life  and  teachings  of  Jesus  and  his 
authorized  exponents,  as  well  as  invoke  their  indig- 
nant rejection.  But  the  New  Testament,  although 
it  mentions  money  in  relation  to  Christians  almost 
exclusively  to  disparage  it  or  to  condemn  the  spirit 
to  which  it  is  a  powerful  temptation,  yet  does  de- 
clare the  care  of  God  in  relation  to  it,  and  does  ex- 
plicitly teach  the  adjustment  of  the  distribution  of 
possessions  to  prosperity  in  them. 

Matthew  6  :  25-34.  Therefore,  take  no  thought  .  .  . 
for  your  heavenly  Father  knows  that  ye  have  need  of 
all  these  things. 

Hebrews  13  :  5.  Let  your  conversation  be  without 
covetousness;  content  with  such  things  as  ye  have;  for 
he  has  said,  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee. 

1  Corinthians  16  :  2.  Let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  in 
store  as  God  has  prospered  him. 

2  Corinthians  8:11,  12.  So  there  may  be  the  finish- 
ing according  to  what  ye  have.  For  if  there  be  first 
the  willing  mind,  it  is  accepted  according  to  what  one 
has,  not  according  to  what  he  has  not. 

(5)  System.  Much  stress  has  been  laid  on  "  sys- 
tematic giving,"  and  with  justice.  But  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  system  in  specific  application  to 
finance  finds  any  expression  in  the  New  Testament. 


86  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

The  general  principle  of  orderly  or  systematic  living 
is  laid  down  there,  and  the  application  of  it  to  this 
field  is  admissible,  even  if  it  were  provable  that  the 
Testament  itself  makes  no  such  application,  for  sys- 
tem is  essential  in  applying  the  principles  already 
enumerated,  as  well  as  others  that  are  to  follow. 
Paul's  direction  to  lay  by  in  store  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week  is  not  forgotten,  but  one  may  fairly 
question  whether  that  expresses  a  principle,  or  only 
a  method  under  the  principle  just  now  recognized. 
We  have  found  in  it  an  expression  of  the  principle 
of  prosperity,  for  on  this  word  the  emphasis  of  the 
sentence  falls  and  the  significance  of  the  storing  on 
the  Lord's  Day  depends.  This  last  is  a  minor  ele- 
ment, and  if  any  one  should  claim  that  it  is  not  prop- 
erly understood  as  expressing  a  principle,  his  claim 
would  seem  to  be  well  advanced ;  and  this  would  be 
true  if  it  touched  only  the  question  of  its  perma- 
nency or  invariability ;  still  it  may  be  safe  to  accept 
the  quite  evidently  prevalent  view  that  this  minor 
member  of  the  sentence  carries  a  principle.  But  so 
taken,  its  application  should  be  confined  to  the  in- 
dividual, not  as  supporting  the  plan  of  a  public 
gathering  of  offerings.  The  use  sometimes  made 
of  it  as  imposing  gatherings  or  collections  in  church 
meetings,  goes  beyond,  or  rather  against,  Paul's 
meaning  and  purpose;  in  fact,  his  purpose  was  to 
prevent  such  gatherings,  not  to  impose  them,  or 
propose  them,  or  even  suggest  them.  If  we  keep 
this  proposal  as  it  was  first  made,  as  more  a  method 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  87 

than  a  principle,  and  applicable  to  private  use  for 
systematic  accumulation,  we  are  not  in  danger  of 
laying  too  much  stress  on  it.  Remembering,  then, 
that  ^'  system "  is  always  liable  to  merge  into 
"  machine,"  let  its  value  in  right  use  and  under- 
standing be  magnified ;  let  not  *'  system  "  supplant 
"  spirit,"  nor  "  machine  "  replace  "  man." 

1  Corinthians  16  :  2.  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store,  as  God  has 
prospered  him,  that  there  be  no  gatherings  when  I 
come. 

2  Corinthians  9  :  3.    That,  as  I  said,  ye  may  be  ready. 

(6)  Simplicity.  This  is  the  principle  of  the  sin- 
gle eye.  The  single  eye  is  the  opposite  of  the  evil 
eye.  The  eye  stands  for  the  way  of  looking  at 
things,  for  the  standards  of  living.  The  single  eye 
looks  straight  and  straight  through,  through  prob- 
lems, confusions,  and  subterfuges.  The  soul  of  the 
single  eye,  clarified  by  singleness  of  standard,  is  the 
repository  of  the  divine  wisdom.  God  answers  it 
and  guides  it  because  it  does  not  trifle  with  his 
monitions  and  pervert  itself  by  trifling.  This,  then, 
means  sincerity  and  a  straight  walk  with  God.  All 
these  elements  concentrate  into  simplicity.  Fellow- 
ship with  God  eliminates  the  pomposity  and  crooked- 
ness of  selfishness.  To  say  that  one's  left  hand  does 
not  know  what  his  right  hand  does  may  seem  the 
next  thing  to  calling  him  an  idiot ;  but  that  is  what 
our  Lord  sets  in  the  first  place.     He  so  places  and 


»»  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

magnifies  it  in  contrast  with  the  hypocrite  who  blows 
a  trumpet  in  order  that  he  may  have  glory  of  men. 

Matthew  6  :  3.  But  when  thou  doest  alms,  let  not  thy 
left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand  does:  that  thy  alms 
may  be  in  secret. 

I  Timothy  6  :  8.  And  having  food  and  raiment,  let 
us  be  therewith  content. 

Acts  5  :  3,  4.  Ananias.  .  .  Why  hast  thou  conceived 
this  thing  in  thy  heart?  Thou  hast  not  lied  to  men,  but 
to  God. 

(7)  Spontaneity.  We  might  call  it  free  will,  or 
cheerfulness,  or  even  hilarity,  but  spontaneity  seems 
best  to  express  the  whole  thought  intended.  All 
that  has  been  set  forth  in  preceding  principles  may 
be  safely  repeated  and  emphasized  in  due  propor- 
tion at  any  time;  but  never  in  any  way  or  to  any 
extent  that  contradicts  or  embarrasses  free  will  in 
giving.  "  God  loves  a  cheerful  giver,"  enthusiastic 
in  the  giving  until  possibly  the  enthusiasm  becomes 
hilarious.  The  story  of  the  shouting  brother  who 
was  silenced  by  the  contribution  basket  is  probably 
true  to  life  in  some  cases ;  but  its  extreme  reverse  is 
true  of  the  Christian  life  at  its  best.  In  that  life  the 
call  for  contributions  of  possessions  sets  one  shout- 
ing. It  solicits  him  to  his  highest  enjoyment.  It 
stirs  his  risibilities  of  benevolence.  It  makes  him 
glad  with  a  gladness  too  pervasive  to  be  concealed, 
and  in  his  esteem  so  honorable  and  delightful  that 
he  does  not  wish  to  conceal  it.    Thus  filled  with  the 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  89 

divine  gracionsness  he  becomes  so  free-hearted  in 
giving  that  he  cannot  give  grudgingly.  He  is  so 
thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  all  the  principles  of 
right  giving  that  he  adopts  and  operates  them  with 
resolute  readiness  and  bounding  promptness.  He 
''  jumps  at  the  chance."  His  giving  is  like  the  sing- 
ing of  a  joyous  soul  that  has  mastered  the  principles 
of  music  and  tuned  all  its  musical  faculties  to  spon- 
taneous harmony. 

Colossians  3  :  23.  And  whatever  ye  do,  do  heartily 
as  to  the  Lord  and  not  to  men. 

Acts  20  :  35.  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive. 

Acts  4  :  33,  34.  Great  grace  was  on  them  all.  Neither 
was  any  among  them  that  lacked,  for  as  many  as  were 
possessors  of  lands  or  houses  sold  them,  and  brought 
the  prices  of  the  things  that  were  sold. 

2  Corinthians  8  :  1-4.  The  grace  of  God  bestowed  on 
the  churches  of  Macedonia:  in  a  great  trial  of  affliction, 
the  abundance  of  their  joy  and  their  deep  poverty 
abounded  unto  the  riches  of  their  liberality  .  .  .  beyond 
their  power,  willing  of  themselves;  praying  us  with 
much  entreaty  that  we  would  receive  the  gift. 

Luke  21  :  3,  4.  This  poor  widow  has  cast  in  more 
than  they  all  .  .  .  all  the  living  that  she  had. 

Mark  14  :  9.  Wherever  this  gospel  shall  be  preached 
throughout  the  whole  world,  this  also  that  she  has  done 
shall  be  spoken  of  for  a  memorial  of  her. 

2  Corinthians  8  :  7.  Therefore,  as  ye  abound  in  every 
thing,  .  .  see  that  ye  abound  in  this  grace  also. 


90  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

(8)  Symmetry.  The  chief  design  of  the  divine 
plan  of  stewardship  for  Christians  is  the  spiritual 
growth  and  symmetry  of  the  steward.  God  is  not 
dependent  on  his  people  for  money  with  which  to 
execute  his  purposes.  He  always  says  to  them  sub- 
stantially what  he  said  to  seer  and  singer :  "  The 
cattle  on  a  thousand  hills  are  mine,  all  the  gold 
and  silver  are  mine;  if  I  were  hungry  I  would  not 
tell  you."  He  is  not  dependent  on  any  creature  for 
any  supplies  anywhere,  except  as  he  voluntarily  and 
benevolently  makes  himself  dependent  for  the  good 
of  those  to  whom  he  appeals  for  support.  But  he 
has  so  ordered  that  the  attainment  of  Christian 
progress  and  perfection  is  involved  in  material  stew- 
ardship. He  calls  on  us  to  give  in  order  that  there- 
by we  may  be  developed  into  a  capacity  to  receive, 
which  seems  to  be  impossible  on  any  other  plan. 
Our  receiving,  as  really  as  our  giving,  glorifies  him. 
We  cannot  fail  of  either  without  failing  in  that 
praise  to  God  for  which  we  exist  and  to  which  we 
are  called.  We  glorify  him  by  receiving  his  grace 
for  our  need  and  by  imparting  his  grace  to  the  need 
of  others.  This  duplex  flow  of  divine  grace  through 
us  works  in  us  as  it  passes  both  ways.  The  stew- 
ard himself  is  the  central  field  of  the  stewardship. 
We  are  in  this  business  because  our  heavenly  Father 
seeks  through  it  to  make  us  what  he  wishes  us  to 
be.  His  prevailing  and  permanent  purpose  is  our 
perfection  in  spiritual  symmetry.  The  fuller  mean- 
ing of  this  will  appear  in  the  constructive  section. 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  91 

Ephesians  6  :  lo,  ii.  Be  strong  in  the  Lord  and  the 
power  of  his  might.  Put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God, 
that  ye  may  be  able  to  stand  against  the  wiles  of  the 
devil. 

Colossians  i  :  9-28.  We  do  not  cease  to  pray  for 
you  and  to  desire  that  ye  might  be  filled  with  the 
knowledge  of  his  will  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  un- 
derstanding; that  ye  might  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord 
unto  all  pleasing,  being  fruitful  in  every  good  work  and 
increasing  in  the  knowledge  of  God(ver.  22),  to  present 
you  holy,  unblamable,  and  unreprovable  in  his  sight 
(ver.  28),  every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Luke  16  :  11.  If  ye  have  not  been  faithful  in  the 
unrighteous  mammon,  who  will  commit  to  you  the  true 
riches? 

Matthew  6  :  21.  For  where  your  treasure  is.  there 
will  your  heart  be  also. 

Colossians  3  :  5-  Put  to  death,  therefore,  your  mem- 
bers, .  .  and  covetousness,  which  is  idolatry. 

Hebrews  13  :  20,  21.  Now  the  God  of  peace  .  .  . 
make  you  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will, 
working  in  you  that  which  is  well-pleasing  in  his  sight, 
through  Jesus  Christ. 

(9)  Equality.  The  eight  principles  already  de- 
fined relate  to  the  individual.  They  reveal  the  way 
in  which  he  should  go  in  dealing  with  stewardship 
for  himself.  They  are  the  substance  of  a  sound  and 
symmetrical  doctrine  of  stewardship  in  the  aggre- 
gate for  the  individual  alone.  They  do  not  touch 
the  problem  of  the  distribution  in  detail  save  a? 
symmetry  clearly  involves  a  broad  view  of  needs 


92  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

and  a  careful  analysis  of  personal  responsibility  in 
response.  But  now  the  principle  of  equality  comes 
in  to  equalize  burdens  on  associated  stewards,  so 
that  one  shall  not  be  eased  and  another  burdened,  so 
that  by  this  adjustment  in  detail  of  the  ability  given 
by  prosperity,  each  soul  shall  be  free  to  build  itself 
symmetrically  by  means  of  its  wide-spreading  bene- 
factions, large  or  small,  as  prosperity  may  make 
possible. 

Galatians  6  :  2.  Bear  one  another's  burdens  and  so 
fulfil  the  law  of  Christ. 

2  Corinthians  8  :  13,  14.  Not  that  others  be  eased  and 
ye  burdened.  But  by  an  equality,  at  this  time  your 
abundance  for  their  need,  that  their  abundance  may  be 
also  for  your  need. 

2.    THE  PRINCIPLES  APPLIED  CRITICALLY 

If  the  preceding  principles  are  taken  in  a  large 
view  of  them,  they  will  provide  a  quite  complete 
test  for  current  methods  of  giving.  These  methods 
are  reduced  to  a  few  when  grouped  on  the  basis  of 
their  general  or  dominant  qualities.  On  this  plan 
we  now  classify  them  and  seek  to  judge  them  in  the 
light  of  what  has  gone  before. 

(i)  Haphazard.  This  has  been  the  prevalent 
method  among  Baptists.  It  comes  from  earlier  than 
the  first  efforts  to  systematize  stewardship.  It  has 
stood  out  against  system  all  along  the  way.  Prob- 
ably it  is  still  the  prevalent  style  among  us,  at  least 
when  we  are  viewed  LHmerically;  more  individuals 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  93 

among  us  employ  it  than  use  all  the  systems  com- 
bined. It  arises  from  two  sources  chiefly.  One  of 
these  is  thoughtlessness.  People  do  not  think  provi- 
dently. They  live  from  hand  to  mouth  in  many 
things  or  in  all  things ;  and  this  state  of  mind  so 
flows  into  their  religion,  that  if  the  support  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  depends  on  them  it  must  live 
on  the  same  plan.  Their  sympathies  may  be  as- 
sumed to  be  right  and  their  enthusiasm  may  reach  a 
high  pitch  at  a  given  moment ;  but  with  their  sym- 
pathies right  and  their  zeal  aflaine,  they  cannot 
contribute  much  because  they  have  not  thought  to 
have  it  in  hand  for  this  moment.  They  may  pledge, 
indeed,  but  then  the  same  constitutional  deficiency 
induces  or  compels  them  to  fail  to  pay  the  pledge, 
even  when  reminded  of  it.  Another  source  of  hap- 
hazard is  indifference.  The  delinquency  arises  from 
lack  of  real  interest.  Unless  church  books  are 
going  to  have  great  controversy  with  heavenly 
records,  many  church-members  seem  to  have  little 
or  no  real,  or  at  least  earnest,  interest  in  their  re- 
ligion, except  as  they  think  that  it  can  be  brought 
into  the  service  of  their  selfishness.  They  pass  for 
"  missionary  Baptists  "  because  that  is  "  the  thing," 
not  because  they  have  the  missionary  mind.  Con- 
sequently, when  they  are  brought  face  to  face  with 
the  call  of  the  Lord's  cause,  they  contribute  a  little, 
cheerfully,  or  more,  grudgingly. 

From  these  two  sources  most  of  the  tides  flow 
against   systematic   stewardship  in  property.     The 


94  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

shiftless  in  methods  or  the  indifferent  in  spirit  are 
still  a  large  company  among  those  to  whom  the  cause 
of  Christ  looks  for  aid.  They  are  the  first  argument 
for  the  "  collection  box."  It  gets  something  from 
those  who  otherwise  would  furnish  nothing;  that 
is,  it  does  if  it  is  carried  to  them,  but  if  it  is  located 
in  the  vestibule  and  their  attention  directed  to  it, 
they  fail  to  interview  it  because  they  do  not  think, 
or  they  purposely  evade.  When  a  congregation 
reaches  that  culture  which  leads  all  its  members  to 
adjust  these  affairs  at  home,  the  offering  in  the 
meeting  will  not  be  needed  except,  perhaps,  as  a  con- 
venience for  concentration  or  as  an  expression  of 
worship.  It  is  always  a  possible  temptation  to 
penuriousness  and  hypocrisy,  as  well  as  shiftless - 
ness,  among  the  enrolled  supporters.®  And  it  may 
be  an  offense  to  some  to  whom  a  church  should 
never  apply  for  money,  but  whom  the  church  should 
seek  to  bring  within  the  sound  of  its  message. 

(2)  Competitive.  Emulation,  in  the  higher  mean- 
ing of  the  word,  is  legitimate.  Paul  used  it  for  stir- 
ring up  the  brethren  to  contributions.  When  what 
others  have  done  or  are  doing  rouses  us  to  doing 
better  than  we  would  otherwise,  and  from  right 
motives,  emulation  is  good  as  a  means  to  this  good 
end.  But  its  peril  lies  in  its  tendency  to  run  into 
competition  in  the  lower  meaning  of  the  word.  This 
has  been  a  common  evil  and  sometimes  it  is  a  great 
evil.  So  soon  as  A  gives  more  than  B,  because  he 
wishes  to  appear  to  be  more  generous  than  B,  or 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  95 

even  in  the  spirit  of  triumph  over  the  other,  the 
glory  and  the  grace  go  out  of  his  giving,  because  it 
loses  the  best  motive  and  substitutes  a  bad  motive. 
This  mischief  had  large  play  in  the  old-style  sub- 
scription paper.  It  was  presented  first  to  the  rich 
man,  more  or  less  in  obeisance  to  him  on  account  of 
his  money,  with  the  understanding  that  he  enjoyed 
the  flattery,  as  well  as  the  opportunity,  to  pose  as 
the  largest  giver  and  by  implication  the  most  liberal. 
The  truly  Christian  subscription  paper  would  reverse 
this  order,  for  it  would  go  to  the  poor  first  that 
they  might  give  freely,  and  that  their  deficiency 
might  be  made  up  by  the  rich  without  display.  The 
evil  in  the  subscription  paper  continues  in  the  public 
call  and  announcement  of  contributions.  This  ap- 
peals to  the  same  vanity  in  essentially  the  same  way, 
discourages  the  same  fidelity,  provokes  the  same 
jealousy,  and  works  the  same  injury.  Either  of 
these  methods  has  its  advantages,  but  both  are  out 
of  harmony  with  that  self-hiding  in  simplicity  on 
which  our  Lord  laid  high  honor. 

(3)  Self-denial.  Somewhat  extensively  a  method 
of  increasing  contributions  has  come  into  use  under 
this  title.  Churches  and  other  companies  of  people 
agree  that,  for  a  stipulated  period,  usually  brief,  a 
day  or  a  week,  each  one  will  deny  to  himself  some 
privilege  usually  enjoyed  in  order  that  his  gifts  may 
be  increased  by  the  amount  thus  saved.  One  will 
cease  the  use  of  sugar  in  his  cofifee,  or  both  coffee 
and  sugar,  or  other  articles  of  food.     Another  will 


96  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

walk  and  save  carfare,  and  so  on.  Each  chooses  the 
field  and  the  extent  of  his  own  abstinence.  If  so 
disposed,  he  can  deny  to  self  what  self  usually  has 
but  does  not  value  much.  This  may  go  so  far  that 
the  "  denial "  part  becomes  a  joke.  On  the  other 
hand,  no  doubt  this  plan  is  seriously  operated,  with 
as  good  motives  as  more  dignified  methods;  and  in 
some  instances  funds  surprising  in  amount,  as  well 
as  gratifying,  have  been  accumulated.  Where  this 
has  occurred  among  the  poor  in  this  world's  goods, 
the  result  argues  the  seriousness  of  its  prosecution 
and  some  real  sacrifice.  So  far  it  is  worthy  of  sym- 
pathetic treatment,  and  is  more  respectable  than  the 
meager  provisions  of  the  rich  that  cost  the  givers 
nothing  of  self-denial.  But  evidently  this  method 
carries  always  two  temptations,  to  hypocrisy  and  to 
trifling,  the  one  in  the  evasion  of  any  real  self-denial 
by  easy  ways  that  meet  the  letter  of  the  agreement, 
and  the  other  in  the  spirit  of  sportiveness  and  the 
travesty  of  serious  things  to  which  the  plan  may 
lead. 

Taken  seriously,  the  "  self-denial  "  scheme  fails 
between  the  principles  of  totality  and  personality, 
to  mention  no  others.  The  course  of  reasoning 
against  it  is  this :  If  one  can  dispense  with  sugar  or 
coffee,  or  both,  for  one  week  without  injury  to  him- 
self, why  may  he  not  do  so  for  two  weeks  or  fifty- 
two?  If  another  can  walk  to  his  work  for  one  day 
without  injury  to  himself  as  God's  instrument,  why 
can  he  not  often  or  always  do  so?     And  if  this 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  97 

is  no  injury  to  him,  may  it  not  be  a  benefit?  The 
proposition  is  soberly  submitted  that  if  many  per- 
sons would  test  themselves  systematically  after  this 
fashion,  they  would  find  themselves  both  benefited  in 
health  and  enabled  to  become  larger  givers  auto- 
matically by  proceeding  on  the  principles  we  have 
laid  down.  It  is  believed  that  this  proposal  applies 
very  pertinently  to  thousands  of  Christians  of 
moderate  means  and  to  a  greater  proportion  of 
those  of  larger  means.  When  Nathan  Bishop,  as  a 
wealthy  man,  was  doing  as  well  as  giving  on  a 
large  scale  for  good  causes,  he  was  hailed  on  the 
street  by  another  wealthy  man,  riding  by  as  Bishop 
walked,  with  the  question,  "  Why  don't  you  ride. 
Doctor  Bishop?"  The  reply  was,  ''  By  walking  I 
have  more  money  to  give  away."  He  probably 
might  have  added  truthfully,  "  And  have  better 
health."  After  one  has  answered  Christ's  demand 
for  denial  of  self  and  has  gotten  hold  of  our  principle 
of  totality  practically,  this  so-called  self-denial  may 
take  on  great  dignity  and  efficiency  as  one  expres- 
sion of  the  deeper  denial ;  but  otherwise  the  "  de- 
nial "  is  in  great  danger  of  falling  into  hypocrisy  or 
frivolity  or  both. 

(4)  Thank-offering.  This  brings  us  to  that 
which  deserves  to  be  treated  with  sympathetic  cour- 
tesy. Thank-offerings  have  expressed  much  of 
grateful  love,  some  of  which  seems  to  have  been 
genuine  toward  God.  One's  property  in  peril  ap- 
pears to  the  owner  to  be  saved  by  the  divine  interpo- 


96  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

sition,  therefore  an  offering  is  made.  A  child  lies 
beyond  the  skill  of  physicians  at  the  point  of  death 
and  an  unseen  Hand  turns  back  the  tide  of  life; 
therefore  the  parent  takes  his  thank-offering  to  the 
Lord.  A  heart  alert  for  such  calls  as  these  can  hear 
them  often.  Now  let  it  be  repeated  that  contribu- 
tions under  such  impulses  present  much  to  solicit 
sympathy  and  evoke  admiration.  Then  let  it  be  said 
softly,  but  plainly,  that  this  kind  of  giving  is  de- 
fective. The  defect  is  fundamental.  The  difficulty 
with  it  is  that,  more  or  less,  it  originates  in  selfish- 
ness. The  owner  loves  himself  in  his  property ;  the 
parent  loves  himself  in  the  child ;  the  saving  of  the 
property  or  child  of  another  would  get  no  response 
of  this  nature  from  him.  Without  doubt  frequently, 
possibly  always,  these  offerings  express  self-love  and 
without  this  element  in  them  would  not  have  been 
made.  Protest  against  this  style  of  giving  arises 
readily  out  of  the  first  principle,  under  which  the 
whole  life  is  a  perpetual  offering  of  thanksgiving 
and  more.  The  basal  conception  in  this  method  in- 
volves a  separation  between  God's  and  mine  in- 
compatible with  perfect  stewardship.  On  one  side 
it  looks  toward  those  propitiatory  offerings  abound- 
ing in  paganism  and  in  a  paganized  Christianity.  In 
the  better  class  of  Christians  also,  it  is  always  in 
peril  of  the  "  bargain-counter  "  spirit,  which  makes 
true  giving  or  serving  impossible  everywhere. 

(5)   Fixed  Percentage.    This  brings  us  to  system., 
which  is  good  so  far.    For  the  present  use  the  tenth 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  99 

takes  its  place  with  other  fractions  without  any 
special  rights  on  any  basis  of  law  or  method.  The 
field  of  the  application  of  this  percentage  is  usually 
that  of  the  gross  income ;  the  steward  sets  apart  a 
fixed  fraction  first  of  all  that  he  receives,  as  the 
Lord's  part  in  this  view  of  it,  before  he  applies  any 
of  it  to  his  personal  purposes,  whether  of  luxury  or 
necessity.  This  is  his  debt  to  God  which  he  will 
pay  before  he  pays  any  other  debts  or  provides  for 
himself.  Differences  on  this  last  detail  and  others 
appear  among  the  advocates  of  this  scheme,  but  they 
are  of  minor  import,  and  the  proposal  to  tax  only 
income  covers  the  field  substantially. 

The  point  of  issue  now  is  that  of  the  fixity  or 
invariableness  of  the  portion  set  apart.  Is  that 
element  consistent  with  New  Testament  principles? 
It  is  not.  Our  first  three  great  principles — total- 
ity, personality,  and  prosperity — array  themselves 
against  it.  Combined,  they  constitute  an  assault  on 
the  fixed  fraction  that  sweeps  it  routed  from  the 
field.  It  cannot  maintain  itself  even  for  the  indi- 
vidual alone  unless  his  conditions  and  his  posses- 
sions remain  unchanged.  Whenever  either  of  these 
changes  appreciably,  he  cannot  meet  the  New  Tes- 
tament successfully,  cannot  continue  a  consistent 
steward,  without  changing  his  percentage  to  meet 
the  change  in  the  element  or  elements  in  his  case. 
And  in  cooperation  with  others  the  difficulty  may 
be  further  increased.  We  may  illustrate  by  the 
national  tariff.    Statesmen  never  make  "  horizontal  " 


100  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

changes  in  the  whole  group  of  tariff  schedules ; 
but  they  consider  comprehensively  and  seek  to  ad- 
just equitably,  in  consequence  of  which  their  prob- 
lem always  operates  a  sliding  scale.  So  the  states- 
manship of  Christian  stewardship  always  operates  a 
sliding  scale.  The  regnant  principles  of  the  New 
Testament  compel  it  to  do  so.  Harmony  with  them 
by  means  of  an  unchanging  proportion  is  impossi- 
ble. This  involves  perplexities  of  judgment  and 
tests  of  conscience,  but  these  we  are  not  consider- 
ing just  now ;  they  find  place  under  the  constructive 
application  of  the  principles.  We  are  now  challen- 
ging the  fixed  fraction  with  the  fixed  principles,  and 
the  fraction  will  have  to  manage  the  jolts  it  gets  as 
best  it  can.  It  stands  in  this  particular  with  hap- 
hazard, and  is  called  to  improvement.  The  princi- 
ples must  not  and  will  not  yield. 

3.    THE   PRINCIPLES   APPLIED   CONSTRUCTIVELY 

Our  search  is  for  the  ideal  stewardship  in  prop- 
erty. In  the  New  Testament  certain  principles  ap- 
pear which,  combined,  make  clear  the  outlines  of 
that  for  which  we  seek.  Bringing  some  present 
methods  of  making  effectual  the  spirit  of  giving  to 
God,  or  of  operating  as  his  stewards,  to  the  test  of 
these  principles,  we  have  found  none  of  them  filling 
the  outline,  but  all  of  them,  so  tested,  appear  se- 
riously defective.  Are  we  able  to  locate  or  define 
the  central  or  germinal  element  in  these  methods  in 
which  their  deficiency  originates?     Trying  to  get 


NEW   TESTAMExVT    PRINCIPLES  lOI 

the  primary  point  of  view  where  they  agree,  more 
or  less,  with  each  other  and  at  the  same  time  differ 
from  the  divine  ideal,  we  venture  to  express  it  thus : 
They  begin  at  the  wrong  end  and  work  the  wrong 
way.  This  leads  to  a  series  of  entanglements. 
These  entanglements  can  be  disentangled  most 
briefly  and  clearly  not  by  following  them  in  detail 
and  ferreting  them  out  in  fragments,  of  which  we 
have  done  enough  in  previous  connections,  but  by 
handling  our  Scriptural  principles  constructively, 
taking  them  in  their  vital  and  logical  order  and 
applying  them  in  their  harmonious  aggregate  posi- 
tively, leaving  the  tangles  to  look  out  for  them- 
selves and  disappear  by  necessary  consequence.  Our 
positive  definitions  and  negative  applications  of  these 
principles  have  sought  to  clear  the  way  for  this 
constructive  use  of  them. 

(i)  Totality.  We  conceive  ourselves  as  new- 
bom  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  stirring  of 
the  new  life  stirs  this  primary  question :  How  much 
of  us  and  ours,  as  things  are  ours  under  human 
laws,  belongs  to  God?  The  spontaneous  answer  of 
gratitude  for  redemption  and  equitable  response  to 
its  claims  must  be,  "  All  and  absolutely."  We  pro- 
pose to  take  this  for  all  it  is  worth  in  the  estimate 
of  our  highest  conception  of  equity  and  our  tender- 
est  affection  of  gratitude.  We  cut  all  strings  of 
naturalism,  eliminate  all  equivocations  of  selfishness, 
and  accept  this  proposal  in  the  full  light  of  the 
Cross  forever  and  for  everything.     If  we  fail  to  do 

H 


I02  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG    BAPTISTS 

this,  and  so  far  as  we  fail,  we  will  be  misled  by 
sophistries,  deceived  by  delusions,  and  wrecked  in 
the  consequences  of  both  of  them.  We  have  already 
challenged  those  legalistic  surveyors  who  propose 
to  run  lines  of  demarcation  through  the  redemption 
and  the  consecration  which  it  originates  and  appro- 
priates. We  are  not  going  to  permit  any  one  on 
any  plan  to  beguile  us  into  any  infraction  of  this 
holy  unity.  All  of  our  holdings  are  held  for  God 
on  the  same  basis  and  to  the  same  extent.  We  are 
under  precisely  the  same  degree  and  the  same  kind 
of  responsibility  to  him  for  every  element  in  them. 
To  take  out  any  part  and  set  it  aside  as  under  a 
separate  law  or  love,  is  an  impertinence.  To  all 
this  our  primary  principle  of  totality  holds  us  fast 
inflexibly  and  invariably. 

(2)  Personality.  We  first  find  ourselves  re- 
deemed completely  and  consecrated  completely. 
From  this  initiative  of  our  own  personality  we  look 
ahead  and  start  on  our  age-long  service  of  our  Lord. 
We  are  humbled  by  his  estimate  of  us,  expressed  in 
redemption,  and  amazed  at  the  vista  of  our  possi- 
bilities as  he  unfolds  them  to  us.  And  by  the 
same  we  are  exalted  in  spirit  by  the  apprehension 
that  all  God  gives  us  of  material  things  is  but  a 
bagatelle  when  compared  with  what  he  gives  us  in 
ourselves,  our  possibilities  in  conformity  to  divine 
standards  and  our  achievements  in  divine  service. 
Humbly  but  confidently  we  are  assured  that  the  most 
profitable  field  in  which  we  can  invest  for  him,  and 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  IO3 

for  ourselves  as  one  with  him,  is  ourselves  until  we 
are  equipped  for  his  service.  If  we  get  hold  of  this 
properly  it  will  save  us  from  a  common  error  of 
starting  at  the  wrong  end  and  working  the  wrong 
way  in  the  necessary  divisions  and  adjustments  with 
which  we  must  deal.  Now  we  should  perceive  that 
we  may  not  set  apart  any  portion  of  what  we  con- 
trol, may  not  institute  any  division  that  places  serv- 
ice separate  from  our  personality  in  the  first  place, 
and  adjust  the  remainder  to  it.  That  would  put 
the  circumference  before  the  center  and  turn  the 
whole  process  topsyturvy.  God  has  not  redeemed 
our  things;  he  has  redeemed  us;  and  that  puts  us 
first  and  keeps  us  there  in  every  consideration  of 
the  whole  problem  of  our  stewardship.  This  in- 
volves that  we  are  not  to  think  of  any  service  or 
gift  as  separated  from  ourselves;  because  we  are 
Christ's  and  Christ  is  God's,  and  thus  the  redeemed 
are  lifted  into  a  unity  with  the  divine  such  that  it 
makes  the  recognition  of  a  fractional  division  be- 
tween the  two  in  stewardship  of  things  internal  or 
external,  a  disruption  of  the  sacred  unity  which  is 
treason  against  both. 

These  considerations  prepare  us,  as  no  others  can, 
to  specialize  on  the  use  of  money  for  the  perfection 
of  personality  as  the  instrument  of  the  divine  will. 
How  can  I  make  the  most  of  myself  personally  for 
God?  No  person,  especially  young  person,  can  an- 
swer this  question  without  taking  his  money  into 
the  reckoning;  his  money  for  expenditure  on  him- 


104  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

self  first  of  all.  God  cuts  with  the  sharp  edges  of 
his  instruments,  and  in  order  that  they  may  cut  well 
they  must  be  well  sharpened.  Therefore  a  duty,  in 
some  sense  the  first  duty,  of  every  one  is  to  secure 
and  preserve  the  physical  conditions  necessary  to 
doing  the  will  of  God,  and  to  appropriate  to  this  use 
all  the  money  necessary  to  this  end.  Here  is  a  stew- 
ardship of  property  with  reference  to  food,  clothing, 
recreation,  vacational  or  other,  and  every  other  ele- 
ment of  the  physical  life.  The  same  principle  ap- 
plies in  the  same  way  to  the  mental  equipment.  If 
one  is  called  to  preach,  his  obligation  is  to  make 
himself  the  best  preacher  possible,  which  involves 
education  costing  him  or  some  one  else  considerable 
money.  If  he  is  going  into  any  profession,  the  same 
remark  applies  to  qualification  for  superiority  in 
that  profession.  If  his  duty  is  to  enter  the  market 
and  trade  for  God,  then  he  should  seek  the  best 
business  education.  Apply  the  principle  wherever  it 
fits,  and  it  fits  every  one  somewhere.  Personal 
equipment  to  do  personal  work  is  the  first  call  on 
stewardship  in  money  because  personality  is  primary 
as  well  as  persistent  everywhere. 

(3)  Respectability.  Every  human  being  desires 
to  be  respectable  according  to  certain  standards 
more  or  less  clearly  defined  in  his  own  mind.  These 
standards  come  to  him  from  various  sources,  singly 
or  combined,  recognized  or  unrecognized ;  standards 
constitutional,  associational,  legal,  moral,  etc.  The 
standards  of  respectability  for  the  Christian  are  all 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  IO5 

combined  and  unified  in  Christ.  In  him  we  are  to 
be  conformed  to  the  divine  image.  Whatever  har- 
monizes with  him  commands  us.  All  else  has  no 
legitimate  influence  over  us.  So  far  as  we  tinge  our 
conceptions  of  respectability  with  the  shadows  or 
the  lights  of  the  world,  we  are  untrue  to  our  high 
birth  and  calling.  This  enfolds  and  unfolds  a  multi- 
tude of  strenuous  calls  to  none  of  which  may  we 
be  deaf,  with  none  of  which  may  we  play  hide-and- 
seek,  with  all  of  which  we  must  deal  faithfully  and 
freely  as  stewards  of  the  grace  of  God  through  our 
material  possessions.  In  every  one  of  the  calls  for 
our  money  we  must  stand  fast  where  we  find  the 
best  available  answer  to  the  question,  "  Will  this 
expenditure  be  respectable  according  to  God's 
standard,  will  it  be  a  good  investment  for  him,  will 
it  please  him?  Manifestly  here  we  are  in  danger 
of  getting  ourselves  into  numerous  entanglements  of 
judgment,  natural  sympathy,  and  selfish  solicitation ; 
but  if  we  are  to  grow  up  into  the  stature  of  men  in 
Christ,  we  must  not  run  away  from  these  entangle- 
ments or  cast  them  aside.  To  do  the  first  is  to  show 
a  cowardice  discreditable  in  those  who  are  com- 
manded to  quit  themselves  like  men.  To  do  the 
second  is  to  belittle  the  redemption  which  glorifies 
every  trifle  of  our  life,  pouring  into  it  the  dignity 
and  sanctity  of  the  supreme  Steward,  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  No  matter  what  perplexities  or  per- 
secutions, what  inconveniences  or  losses  may  be  in- 
volved, our  inflexible  rule  must  be  to  test  every  use 


I06  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

of  our  property  as  much  as  our  speech,  thought, 
and  feeHng  by  this  one  test  of  respectabiHty  accord- 
ing to  Christ,  giving  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt 
wherever  a  doubt  exists.  We  are  not  to  deny  or 
modify  our  obHgation  to  be  respectable  in  this  way 
by  hiding  behind  any  apportionment,  whether  made 
by  a  convention,  a  church,  a  committee,  or  a  crowd. 
Our  course  may  please  or  displease  the  world  or  the 
brethren,  but  that  is  a  negligible  consideration  in 
the  eye  of  respectable  stewardship. 

In  all  of  this  we  are  assuming,  not  denying,  the 
position  taken  in  our  definition  of  respectability  as 
recognizing  human  standards.  So  far  as  we  do  this 
as  our  Lord  did,  we  are  conforming  to  the  divine 
standard.  This  opens  a  large  field  for  discrimina- 
tion and  raises  many  fine  points  of  distinction. 
Whatever  problem  is  thus  set  before  us  we  must 
grapple  and  handle  with  the  firm  hand  of  a  loyal 
heart.  The  demon  of  selfishness  and  his  ally,  sub- 
terfuge, lurk  along  this  line,  to  be  met  here  as  every- 
where else.  It  behooves  us  to  be  on  our  guard 
equally  against  worldly  conformity  and  unwise  dis- 
crimination. The  opportunity  often  arises  to  para- 
lyze our  message  to  the  world  by  fanatical  or  other- 
wise foolish  antagonism  to  the  tastes  of  the  world. 
For  instance,  a  preacher  can  save  money  for  charity 
by  preaching  shabbily  clad ;  but  often  that  would  be 
poor  stewardship,  because  this  economy  loses  more 
in  the  message  than  it  gains  in  the  charity.  More 
harm  is  done  in  the  higher  interest  through  the 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  lO/ 

repulsion  of  the  decently  clad,  than  the  improvement 
in  the  beggar's  wardrobe  does  good  in  the  lower. 

(4)  Prosperity.  It  is  important  that  we  set  a 
right  value  on  this  word.  Only  by  so  doing  will  we 
get  a  firm  grasp  on  its  principle.  Having  in  mind 
what  has  been  said  under  "  definition,"  we  raise  the 
question.  What  is  it  to  be  prosperous  in  business, 
or  in  the  widest  view  of  material  possessions  in  their 
ownership  and  uses?  We  cannot  frame  a  proper 
answer  on  the  basis  of  the  four  rules  of  arithmetic 
alone.  We  must  use  them,  must  add,  subtract,  mul- 
tiply, and  divide.  But  any  worldling  does  that. 
He  estimates  the  value  of  what  he  has  as  expressed 
in  figures  by  what  he  can  get  out  of  it ;  what  he  can 
get  with  it  that  best  meets  his  most  urgent  needs  as 
he  understands  needs.  To  accumulate  a  million  dol- 
lars and  live  in  a  desert  isolated,  both  during  and 
after  the  accumulation,  may  be  regarded  as  pros- 
perity; but  to  get  the  same  or  less  and  live  in  a 
city  associated,  is  more  to  almost  every  one.  And 
the  value  of  the  money  grows  as  the  uses  multiply  in 
which  the  owner  can  gratify  himself,  if  he  is  one 
kind  of  a  man,  or  promote  those  principles  and  en- 
terprises to  which  he  is  devoted,  if  he  is  another 
kind  of  man.  A  wide  range  of  meaning  in  the  word 
prosperity  opens,  even  to  the  worldly  mind,  around 
the  wealth  that  is  managed  in  the  application  of  the 
four  rules.  The  conclusion  of  this  line  of  reflection 
is  obvious  and  its  application  to  the  Christian  life 
pertinent.     Such  people  as  we  are  taking  ourselves 


I08  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

to  be  cannot  define  prosperity  in  finance  lower  than 
the  level  of  the  new  life  in  Christ.  When  we  see  it 
all  in  the  fellowship  of  Christ,  his  cross  and  cause, 
we  must  elevate  and  refine  our  definition  of  pros- 
perity, must  put  into  it  the  recognition  of  the  spirit- 
ual, that  which  we  get  and  that  which  we  give. 

As  a  simple  illustration  take  this:  One  pays 
toward  the  support  of  a  church  and  gets  a  varied 
spiritual  prosperity  from  the  church,  in  the  preach- 
ing, the  prayer  meeting,  the  fellowship.  If  he  views 
this  fact  and  its  implications  with  a  worldly  wise 
eye,  he  may  say :  "  Well,  I  get  my  money's  worth 
out  of  that,  a  good  investment  for  me ;  but  it  takes 
all  I  think  I  ought  to  give  until  I  have  purchased 
another  farm,  for  farm  values  are  rising,  there- 
fore I  will  postpone  all  gifts  beyond  this."  But 
when  he  views  it  with  the  spiritually  wise  eye,  the 
argument  runs  the  other  way,  thus :  "  If  this  invest- 
ment in  my  church  brings  me  so  much  and  such 
superior  prosperity,  therefore  I  must  invest  in 
missions  in  order  that  I  may  share  in  giving  the 
higher  good  to  others,  more  destitute  than  I.  Per- 
haps I  own  enough  farm  land."  Now  he  lifts  his 
money  up  into  heavenly  connections,  which  makes 
it  mean  more  of  prosperity  to  him  than  it  could  be- 
low. Moreover,  if  he  brings  it  down  his  whole  life 
will  come  down  with  it.  And  further,  let  him  note 
with  trembling,  if  he  brings  his  life  down,  he  brings 
down  the  life  of  Him  who  lives  in  him  and  in  whom 
he  lives.     In  thinking  of  it  in  this  way  we  do  not 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  IO9 

slip  our  discussion  off  its  base,  but  we  do  elevate 
the  base. 

Let  us  guard  against  confusing  prosperity  with 
proportion.  Aluch  is  said  about  "  proportionate 
giving,*'  but  not  much  to  the  point  sometimes.  It 
means  about  this:  Of  course,  when  I  have  more  I 
will  give  more.  I  will  extend  my  partition  between 
God's  and  mine  farther  as  the  field  opens,  setting 
off  more  to  myself  as  well  as  to  him.  I  may  con- 
tinue the  same  proportion,  unless  the  prosperity 
should  become  great,  when  I  may  grow  discreet,  or 
stingy,  and  cut  his  part  down,  avoiding  fanaticism. 
Here  is  a  danger-point  in  prosperity  when  confused 
with  a  scheme  of  proportion  based  on  a  scale  of 
fractional  division.  Let  us  bring  our  principle  of 
totality  and  set  it  in  view  here  as  a  safeguard.  It 
is  the  only  adequate  safeguard.  As  our  teachers  in 
stewardship  reach  this  point  they  separate  into  two 
parties,  each  taking  that  fork  in  the  road  to  which  its 
principles,  so  far  as  it  has  come,  lead  it.  One  party 
makes,  as  we  have  seen  and  declined  to  accept,  a 
division  between  God's  part  and  ours,  beginning  at 
God's  end  of  the  line  and  cutting  off  his  share  ac- 
cording to  program.  But  the  party  to  which  we 
belong,  knowing  no  such  line,  lays  another  between 
the  equipment  and  maintenance  of  self  as  the  in- 
strument of  God  and  what  lies  beyond  self,  view- 
ing the  whole  as  a  unit  in  him.  To  these  two  parties 
increase  of  prosperity  means  two  quite  different 
things.    To  the  first,  on  the  basis,  for  instance,  of  a 


no  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

tenth  as  God's  part  of  a  dollar,  a  doubling  of  pros- 
perity means  ninety  cents  of  surplus  for  self  and  ten 
cents  more  for  God;  but  to  the  second  it  means  no 
surplus  for  self  and  a  dollar  more  for  God.  The 
word  proportion  never  occurs  in  the  New  Testament 
in  application  to  property,  and  the  idea  commonly 
carried  in  it  is  equally  absent  from  that  book.  This 
discussion,  therefore,  does  not  recognize  proportion 
as  a  principle  in  Christian  stewardship,  but  only  as 
a  method  subordinately. 

The  point  now  reached  raises  two  questions :  How 
much  of  our  holdings  do  we  need  to  apply  to  our- 
selves ;  and,  this  need  being  met,  how  much  is  left 
for  distribution  beyond  ourselves,  and  how  shall  we 
distribute  it  ?  The  answer  to  the  last  of  these  ques- 
tions, in  its  second  element,  comes  more  fitly  under 
the  next  division.  But  the  first  question  is  now  at 
our  door  demanding  no  stinted  attention.  The 
problem  of  the  dividing  line  between  what  should 
be  invested  in  self  and  what  should  pass  on  to 
others,  is  very  serious,  not  mathematically  so  much 
as  dynamically.  It  runs  through  the  roots  and  car- 
ries the  issues  of  life  wherever  it  runs,  profoundly, 
variously,  and  very  seriously.  The  estimate  we 
place  on  ourselves  determines  the  estimate  we  put 
on  others,  on  the  whole  field  beyond  that  part,  com- 
paratively small  in  some  legitimate  views  of  it, 
which  we  directly  plant,  till,  and  harvest.  Every 
fraction  applied  to  ourselves  cuts  ofif  proportionately 
elsewhere.     The  dullest  eye  must  see  that  this  lays 


NEW    TESTAMEXT    PRINCIPLES  III 

a  snare  for  our  feet,  the  snare  of  selfishness.  As 
soon  as  we  begin  to  appropriate  to  self,  we  stand 
face  to  face  with  the  "  old  man,"  are  tempted  to  en- 
large this  side  of  the  distribution  in  response  to  our 
own  gratification  rather  than  to  our  Lord's  glorifi- 
cation. The  difficulty  and  danger  here  are  much 
enhanced  frequently  by  our  honest  ignorance  of 
what  we  do  really  need  and,  equally  or  more,  of  what 
we  are  liable  to  need  in  the  future  for  which  we  are 
planning.  We  shall  miss  the  mark  unless  God  guides 
our  arrow.  As  we  miss  the  mark  the  kingdom  will 
lose,  and  its  loss  will  be  our  loss,  because  we  are 
vitally  and  totally  of  it.  Its  interests  are  involved 
in  the  use  the  Lord  makes  of  us.  and  our  interests 
are  involved  in  the  use  he  makes  of  what  we  provide 
to  be  applied  beyond  us  through  other  instrumen- 
talities. If  we  are  wise  we  will  not  dogmatize  in 
the  presence  of  this  problem.  But  we  may  reflect 
and  suggest. 

Our  first  reflection  relates  to  the  liberty  of  the 
individual.  We  agree  not  to  be  afraid  of  liberty  in 
Christ.  Here  it  comes  to  view  in  the  foreground. 
It  is  robed  in  the  principle  of  personality.  Our  time 
has  peculiarly  and  happily  exalted  the  sanctity  of 
the  person,  both  in  his  real  self  and  the  physical 
form  which  he  inhabits.  This  exaltation  is  the  prod- 
uct of  Christianity.  It  follows  in  the  train  of  those 
great  teachings  that  our  spirits  and  our  bodies  are 
the  temples  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  the  ofifer- 
ing  of  our  bodies  as  a  sacrifice  to  God  is  a  spiritual 


112  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

service.  The  highest  appHcation  of  the  sanctity  of 
the  human  person  is  in  the  Christian,  and  specifically 
in  his  stewardship.  Here,  then,  we  are  on  the 
highest  ground  for  the  recognition  of  individual 
liberty  in  personal  sanctity.  Every  steward  of  God 
has  a  supreme  right  to  take  his  own  measure  and 
manage  his  own  stewardship.  Ample  field  lies  open 
for  advice  and  argument,  but  determinations  are  the 
prerogative  of  every  soul  for  itself,  a  prerogative 
that  it  must  defend  against  all  intruders  and 
cherish  for  its  Lord.  How  one  distributes  his 
material  prosperity  is  his  own  business  just  because 
it  is  God's  business. 

Another  reflection  is  that  all  stewards  occupy  a 
common  level  and  have  a  common  obligation  of 
fidelity  to  the  finest  fraction  of  prosperity.  A  mil- 
lionaire has  no  more  right  to  waste  a  dollar  of 
God's  money  than  a  washerwoman  has.  Practically, 
this  is  an  absurdity  to  the  world  and  to  many 
church-members.  It  is  usually  assumed  that  be- 
cause one  is  rich  he  has  latitude  that  his  poor 
brother  does  not  have  in  considering  his  expendi- 
tures in  the  light  of  his  preferences  selfishly.  But  in 
the  presence  of  the  Cross  of  Christ  the  difference 
between  a  thousand  million  dollars  and  ten  cents 
is  negligible,  for  the  present  purpose.  The  same 
divine  ownership  covers  the  one  as  the  other,  and 
stewardship  and  selfishness  meet  for  the  same  strug- 
gle in  the  one  life  as  in  the  other.  Has  a  rich  man 
a  right  to  put  his  money  into  an  automobile  or  a 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  II3 

cigar?  Yes,  if  it  is  essential  to  the  purpose  of 
God  in  him.  Aside  from  that  consideration  the 
amount  of  money  he  controls  has  no  bearing  on  the 
question.  The  work  of  the  Lord  in  the  churches, 
through  them,  and  beyond  them,  can  never  reach  its 
highest  attainment  until  the  Lord's  people  cease 
conceding  to  the  rich  a  latitude  of  selfishness  which 
is  not  granted  to  the  poor,  cease  crouching  to  the 
owner  of  much,  and  apply  estimates  and  discipline 
impartially  everywhere. 

But  we  hasten  this  line  of  observation  to  its  con- 
clusion. After  a  Christian  has  provided  for  the 
equipment  of  himself  for  doing  in  the  most  perfect 
way  what  God  gives  him  to  do,  how  much  of  what 
remains  may  he  appropriate  to  himself?  Nothing! 
But  does  not  this  mean  that  we  are  not  to  spend 
any  money  for  our  own  aggrandizement  or  gratifi- 
cation? Yes,  that  is  what  it  means,  and  that  is  the 
only  way  to  live  a  Christian  life.  This  is  so  plain  in 
the  New  Testament  that  our  astonishment  at  the 
statement  of  it  starts  our  astonishment  at  the  blind- 
ness with  which  we  have  read  that  book. 

Let  it  be  understood  that  what  has  been  said  ap- 
plies only  as  it  has  been  said.  It  does  not  so  apply 
as  to  prohibit  thinking  about  to-morrow  and  arran- 
ging for  it  to-day.  It  does  not  prevent  proper  fore- 
casts, concerning  the  demands  of  business  by  the 
business  man,  or  family  expenses  by  the  head  of 
a  family,  or  personal  expenses  by  the  individual,  or 
judicious  provisions  for  possibilities  or  probabilities 


114  STEWARDSHIP    AMONG   BAPTISTS 

of  decline  in  one's  resources,  financial  or  physical. 
These  things  are  admissible  and  necessary  in  multi- 
tudes of  applications  on  a  scale  reasonably  commen- 
surate with  the  whole  scope  of  each  life.  But  the 
principle  must  stand.  If  we  are  not  able  to  take  it 
in  its  entirety  for  reasonable  use,  that  is  our  great 
misfortune.  If  any  one  says  that  this  cuts  off  a 
great  many  calculations  and  gratifications,  the  reply 
is,  Well,  let  it  cut !  Selfishness  can  devise  many 
more  of  both  after  this  principle  is  in  operation. 
The  principle  itself  is  as  fixed  as  the  redemption  in 
which  it  roots.  More  light  may  shine  along  this 
line  when  we  turn  on  the  current  of  spontaneity. 

(5)  System.  We  have  already  observed  that  sys- 
tem in  stewardship  is  necessary,  whether  listed  as 
principle  or  method.  We  cannot  get  far  success- 
fully without  it,  either  in  acquiring  or  in  distribu- 
ting; and,  other  things  equal,  our  stewardship  will 
be  wise  in  proportion  as  it  is  systematic.  The  need 
seems  to  appear  at  this  point  to  apply  the  princi- 
ple to  distribution.  System  recently  has  been  con- 
sidered mostly  in  relation  to  proportion,  and  the 
discussion  has  clung  quite  closely  to  the  item  of  the 
division,  on  the  basis  of  percentages  between  the 
Lord  and  the  steward  in  his  selfishness.  For  that 
we  no  longer  have  any  place ;  but  for  distribution 
unselfishly  to  a  throng  of  eager  and  more  or  less 
worthy  applicants  we  do  have  a  place.  The  multi- 
plication of  fields  and  ways  for  doing  good  with 
money,  and  the  increase  of  facilities  for  communica- 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  II 5 

tion  with  all  parts  of  the  world,  lays  on  the  stew- 
ard of  the  present  time  additional  responsibility  in 
this  element.  Carelessness  or  incompetency  here 
may  be  more  disastrous  for  us  than  it  would  have 
been  for  our  predecessors.  The  duty  to  discrimi- 
nate, therefore,  becomes  more  insistent,  generally 
and  particularly. 

Generally,  discrimination  is  necessary  between  dif 
ferent  kinds  of  good.  A  simple  analysis  is  possible 
for  every  one  and  seems  to  be  sufficient  for  our 
present  purpose.  It  recognizes  contributions  to  four 
kinds  of  needs — the  physical,  the  intellectual,  the 
moral,  and  the  spiritual.  This  is  an  ascending 
gradation  in  the  understanding  of  the  Christian.  At 
the  lowest  point  he  stands  in  fellowship  with  all 
normal  humanity;  one  who  refuses  all  response  to 
the  physical  needs  of  humanity  having  forfeited  the 
right  to  be  regarded  as  human.  The  appeal  of  in- 
tellectual need,  and  aid  to  education  in  response  to 
it,  approximates  the  preceding  in  its  universality  as 
people  are  civilized ;  one  disregarding  this  claim  not 
being  counted  as  civilized.  The  third  step  still 
carries  along  with  the  Christian  a  large  number  of 
those  who  are  no  more  than  humanitarians  at  their 
best ;  the  Christian  influence  everywhere  diffusing 
throughout  the  community  a  sentiment  more  or  less 
in  sympathy  with  good  order,  sobriety,  honesty, 
honor.  But  in  the  fourth  and  highest  field  Chris- 
tians must  bear  substantially  the  whole  burden. 

Others,  indeed,  see  indistinctly  the  significance  of 


Il6  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

the  gospel  in  itself  and  are  sometimes  willing  to  con- 
tribute to  its  dissemination  for  its  own  sake,  others 
are  so  disposed  for  the  sake  of  its  value  in  lower 
relations ;  but  the  natural  man  cannot  understand 
the  spiritual  life  in  itself  or  appreciate  it  in  any 
way  enough  to  induce  him  to  contribute  much  to  its 
propagation.  How  does  this  bear  on  the  distribution 
of  the  Christian's  funds  among  the  four  kinds  of 
good?  It  seems  to  compel  the  consistent  saint  to 
push  his  contributions  strongly  into  the  spiritual. 
While  he  is  authorized  and  required  by  his  Chris- 
tian belief  to  consider  sympathetically  and  practi- 
cally the  lower  kinds  of  philanthropy,  he  is  as 
certainly  required,  as  a  general  proposition,  to  subor- 
dinate any  of  the  other  three,  or  all  of  them  together, 
to  the  one  that  abides  by  the  cross  and  the  crown 
of  his  salvation.  If  he  fails  to  do  this  he  therein 
writes  an  interrogation  against  his  whole  Christian 
profession.  This  may  seem  to  be  a  too  strenuous 
statement,  but  it  must  stand.  If  one  has  not  a  suffi- 
ciently clear  apprehension  of  the  grace  of  God  in 
sending  his  Son  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  and 
appreciation  of  it  for  himself  and  his  fellow  men. 
to  lead  him  to  take  this  view  of  these  relative  values 
and  claims,  he  should  not  be  oflFended  if  those  who 
do  understand  and  appreciate  doubt  whether  he  has 
any  divine  life  at  all.  It  is  too  late  to  compromise 
with  a  so-called  Christian  steward  who  is  more 
generous  to  a  soup  house  than  he  is  to  foreign  mis- 
sions.   Errors  of  this  kind  are  too  common,  result- 


NEW   TESTAMEXT    PRINCIPLES  II/ 

ing  from  thoughtlessness,  impulsive  natural  sym- 
pathy, or  unfortunate  training  in  this  field,  but  when 
all  admissible  allowance  has  been  made  on  these 
grounds,  our  declaration  remains  as  just  now  stated. 
If  great  need  in  the  lower  fields  should  get  no  re- 
sponse except  from  Christians,  this  conclusion  might 
perhaps  be  modified;  but  the  reverse  situation  is 
conspicuously  in  evidence.  That  the  wealth  of  the 
worldly,  as  well  as  of  many  claiming  to  be  Christian, 
is  going  largely,  as  it  is,  to  the  relief  of  physical  and 
intellectual  destitution,  is  a  legitimate  and  power- 
ful appeal  to  the  redeemed  to  expend  themselves 
for  the  highest  ends,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  The 
spiritual  will  respond  to  this,  and  their  aid  to  the 
lower  kinds  of  helpfulness  will  seek  those  organiza- 
tions and  institutions  in  which  the  spiritual  life  and 
purpose  are  most  pervasive  and  efifective. 

In  detail,  but  little  needs  to  be  said.  It  relates 
to  the  choice  of  fields  and  the  distribution  of  one's 
means  to  them.  At  home  it  seems  clear  that  a 
church-member  should  support  his  own  church 
where  it  provides  facilities  to  meet  his  desires ; 
and  where  conditions  may  call  him  to  cooperation 
in  undenominational  or  interdenominational  enter- 
prises, supreme  regard  should  be  had  to  the  doc- 
trinal soundness  and  spiritual  power  of  the  agencies 
chosen.  With  very  little  exception,  if  any,  denomi- 
national facilities  will  be  found  sufficient  and  as  so- 
licitous as  they  are  sufficient.  The  danger  is  on  the 
other  side,  that  the  opportunities  provided  are  so 
I 


Il8  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

numerous,  so  urgent,  and  so  excellent  that  the  con- 
tributor will  be  confused  in  choosing,  and  will  be- 
come indifferent  to  the  knowledge  of  details  that  he 
ought  to  seek.  Individualism  and  personality  are 
now  tested  at  this  point.  The  difficulty  is  in  sustain- 
ing enthusiasm  in  studying  particulars  of  need  and 
promise  without  becoming  divisive.  More  or  less  all 
the  way  throughout  our  mission  history  we  have  been 
permitted,  if  not  encouraged,  to  appropriate  spe- 
cifically, as  individuals  and  churches  and  fragments 
of  churches  or  sometimes  detached  squads  hardly 
within  speaking  distance  of  the  church.  The  right 
of  large  givers  has  been  recognized  to  designate  the 
details  of  the  application  of  their  funds,  involving 
sometimes  a  sort  of  kingdom  within  a  kingdom,  with 
direct  communications,  seeming  to  waste  the  work- 
er's time  in  correspondence  of  doubtful  value.  Valid 
reasons  exist  for  this  method.  More  valid  objec- 
tions, perhaps,  are  equally  easy  to  find;  it  tends  to 
minister  to  local  and  personal  pride  and  vanity;  it 
brings  self  in  where  only  the  Lord  should  enter. 
The  ideal  is  the  blending  of  the  greatest  intelligence 
and  enthusiasm  individually,  on  the  one  side,  with 
the  combination  of  the  greatest  number  of  contri- 
butions to  common  channels  with  the  least  em- 
barrassment for  the  immediate  managers  of  the 
great  work. 

(6)  Simplicity.  When  our  Lord  said  that  un- 
worldly thing  about  not  letting  the  left  hand  know 
what  the  right  hand  was  doing  in  almsgiving,  he 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  1 19 

put  to  a  sharp  test  the  faith  of  men,  including  Chris- 
tian men.  His  appHcation  of  the  same  principle  to 
worship  seems  to  be  more  palatable  to  the  majority. 
For  most  people  praying  alone  and  unrecognized  is 
easier  than  to  give  alone  and  unrecognized.  The 
wisdom  of  the  better  side  of  the  world  probably  has 
quite  accurately  put  itself  into  this  smart  saying: 
"  The  greatest  pleasure  is  to  do  good  on  the  sly 
and  be  caught  at  it."  But  why  do  it  on  the  sly  if 
the  greatest  pleasure  in  it  is  the  failure  of  the  sly- 
ness? Can  this  question  be  answered  honestly  with- 
out formulating  a  criticism  on  humanity  at  its  natu- 
ral best,  a  searching  fundamental  criticism?  The 
confession,  conscious  or  unconscious,  seeming  to  be 
involved  in  the  smart  saying  is  this:  The  person 
who  does  good  on  the  sly  is  not  sincere  in  the  sly- 
ness, for  his  deepest  desire  is  to  be  caught  at  it  if 
his  greatest  pleasure  is  in  that  element  of  it.  May 
not  anonymous  giving  be  the  highest  form  of  ego- 
tism? When  one  conceals  himself  with  the  knowl- 
edge or  expectation  or  hope  that  sooner  or  later 
he  will  be  disclosed,  may  he  not  harbor  more  self- 
seeking  than  if  he  had  given  openly  at  the  outset? 
May  not  the  secret  and  dominating  feeling  be  that 
in  the  delayed  disclosure  he  will  secure  more  atten- 
tion, discussion,  applause,  than  could  have  come  to 
him  in  any  other  way? 

If  these  are  searching  questions,  let  them  search ! 
We  need  much  of  this  kind  of  searching.  The  need 
of  it  is  blazoned  on  manv  windows  in  houses  of 


I20  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

worship,  on  many  buildings  for  good  uses,  on  many 
funds  for  highest  purposes,  on  which  the  names  of 
their  donors  are  displayed  openly,  as  well  as  in  the 
less  frequent  instances  of  more  secret  giving  in 
which  self  may  have  been  expressed  less  evidently 
though  with  equal  certainty.  The  genuine  Christian 
spirit  shrinks  from  all  that  kind  of  thing.  When 
one  proposes  to  give  to  a  good  cause  on  the  condi- 
tion that  his  name,  sometimes  enfolded  in  another 
name  from  which  it  cannot  be  disconnected  while 
time  endures,  shall  be  attached  forever  to  the  gift ; 
the  gift  in  itself  may  be  good,  and  the  giver  may 
be  estimable,  but  the  condition  is  so  far  removed 
from  that  simplicity  which  Christ  commended  in  the 
saying  of  the  two  hands,  that  the  term  "  Christian  " 
seems  to  be  very  incongruously  associated  with  it. 
If  we  cannot  see  this,  let  us  consult  the  oculist. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  we  do  wrong  when  we  let 
others  know  that  we  give  and  what  we  give,  even 
when  we  give  much,  perchance  disproportionately 
much.  Counterbalancing  considerations  are  legiti- 
mate. Sometimes  one  can  greatly  augment  the  gifts 
of  others,  thus  advancing  the  Lord's  cause,  by  con- 
ditional giving  and  other  processes.  But,  after  all 
the  modifying  concessions  have  been  recorded,  the 
ground  floor  in  this  discussion  remains  right  where 
Jesus  placed  it  in  the  saying  that  seems  so  extrava- 
gant to  most  people.  Suppose  that  all  the  members 
of  a  large  church  should  simultaneously  cast  out 
the  whole  visible  and  orderly  program  of  apportion- 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  121 

nients,  and  envelopes,  and  pledges,  and  everything 
tinctured  with  publicity;  and  then  secretly,  steadily, 
and  joyously  give  much  more  than  they  had  given 
before!  Suppose  it  if  you  can,  and  then  tell  your- 
self what  you  would  think  of  it.  Would  you  not 
think  it  rather  "  queer,"  have  a  little  suspicion  that 
they  had  all  become  daft,  or  at  least  gone  over  to 
that  red  flag  of  the  devil,  "  fanaticism  " ;  and  would 
you  not  be  quite  sure  that  they  would  not  continue  it 
long?  But  if  words  mean  what  they  say,  taking 
these  words  of  Jesus  conservatively,  unless  he  him- 
self was  either  disconcerted  or  insincere,  he  meant 
to  be  understood  that  that  is  the  normal  spirit  of  the 
giving  acceptable  to  him.  This  does  not  mean  that 
the  Lord  delights  in  dunces  or  oddities.  But  it  does 
mean  that  he  delights  in  that  simplicity  which  does 
not  proclaim  itself,  that  conceals  in  order  to  avoid 
the  applause  of  men,  which  applause  may  carry  in  it 
the  disfavor  of  God.  In  another  sphere,  another 
atmosphere,  another  life,  competitions,  triumphs,  ap- 
plause may  be  safe  for  the  saints,  but  not  now  and 
here.  He  who  eliminates  these  methods  cultivates 
safety;  and  he  who  finds  his  duty  in  publicity,  and 
must  therefore  encounter  the  clapping  of  hands  and 
the  waving  of  banners  in  honor  of  himself,  as  some 
must,  needs  an  extra  measure  of  grace  lest  these 
things  wither  the  flower  of  his  service  and  dissipate 
its  aroma.  The  wise  Lord,  who  "  knew  what  is  in 
man,"  saw  the  deep  and  wide  meaning  of  this  and 
more  like  it;  therefore  he  set  in  the  center  of  our 


122  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

eye  this  wide  and  deep  saying  that  we  might  never 
cease  to  see  it,  because  the  ceasing  to  see  it  is  the 
blurring  and  the  scrimping  of  the  divine  landscape, 
and  it  is  too  fine  to  be  blurred  or  scrimped. 

(7)  Spontaneity.  The  only  giver  whom  God 
loves  on  account  of  a  quality  in  his  giving  is  the 
"  cheerful  giver."  This  at  least  is  true  as  far  as 
the  New  Testament  states.  This  fact  is  significant 
practically  to  the  seekers  after  the  divine  ideal  in 
this  service.  It  is  significant  both  as  warning  and 
encouragement.  It  warns  us  that  our  reluctance 
may  kill  our  contributions  much  more  than  we 
think.  The  lack  of  this  lovable  quality  in  them  may 
cut  the  love  of  God  out  of  them.  Praying  for  bless- 
ing on  gifts  that  were  not  given  freely,  cheerfully, 
may  be  wasted.  But  the  fact  that  God  loves  a 
cheerful  giver  peculiarly  is  the  supreme  incentive 
to  ungrudging  giving,  because  it  calls  with  specific 
power  into  the  fellowship  of  God  as  a  giver.  In 
proportion  as  we  give  as  he  does,  his  life  penetrates 
and  vitalizes  our  gift.  This  cannot  be  said  in  the 
same  way  of  any  other  element  in  giving,  no  matter 
how  correct  it  may  be.  Even  self-sacrifice  may  not 
attain  to  this  blessing.  Much  self-sacrifice,  going 
to  the  extreme  of  perpetual  poverty  and  constant 
torture,  may  be  not  only  unacceptable  to  God,  but 
repulsive  to  him,  because  it  is  done  in  the  spirit  of 
bargain,  legalism,  self-righteousness,  and  what  not, 
that  is  incompatible  with  the  love  of  God.  One 
need  not  observe  or  reflect  very  far  in  order  to  be 


NEW   TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  I23 

impressed  by  the  fact  that  much  of  what  is  called 
giving  is  so  defective  in  this  element  that  we  cannot 
well  see  how  God  can  love  it. 

Does  it  not  then  follow  that  he  was  wise  who,  when 
convinced  of  his  duty  to  give  a  large  sum  to  a  good 
cause,  declined  to  do  so  on  the  ground  that  he  could 
not  do  it  freely  and  would  not  do  it  grudgingly ; 
but  who  added  that  he  would  do  it  as  soon  as  he 
could  cheerfully,  explaining  that  he  had  not  been 
educated  to  such  a  point,  but  would  try  to  reach 
it  as  soon  as  possible,  and  then  would  give  the 
amount  that  at  first  seemed  to  him  excessive?  I 
think  that  he  was  wise  with  the  higher  wisdom,  that 
his  aspiration  after  the  right  spirit  in  the  giving 
was  worth  more  to  God  than  his  money  would  have 
been  without  it.  We  may  safely  assume  that  all  the 
divine  help  needed,  to  bring  him  to  feel  as  his  judg- 
ment taught  him  he  ought,  would  be  given  to  him. 
When  a  person  is  in  that  state  of  mind,  no  risk  is 
taken  by  leaving  him  and  God  alone.  They  will 
work  it  out.  A  vision  rushes  before  us  of  a  host 
of  God's  people  who  flounder  along  in  hobbles,  fuss- 
ing with  apportionments  as  excuses,  with  percent- 
ages as  delusions,  with  little  calculations  and  eva- 
sions, with  sophistries  in  reasoning  and  tricks  of 
conscience,  and  really  giving  nothing  with  that  free 
will,  that  exhilaration  of  cheerfulness,  that  exuber- 
ance of  spontaneity  which  God  loves.  As  a  balloon, 
when  its  earth  fastenings  are  cut,  springs  to  the 


124  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG    BAPTISTS 

bind  us  down  were  cut,  would  spring  upward  into 
a  joy  of  the  sense  of  God  which  can  never  come  to 
us  SO  long  as  we  cling  to  the  toggles  lest  we  might 
do  a  little  more  than  the  law  requires  or  than  we 
conceive  to  be  our  share.  But  all  argument  and  in- 
vective fail  here.  Nothing  but  the  joy  of  the  Cross 
can  cure  us ! 

Do  we  realize  that  just  here  we  meet  the  supreme 
solution  of  the  problems  of  proportion?  We  may 
have  seemed  to  ourselves  to  trifle  with  those  prob- 
lems, to  accord  a  liberty  that  puts  contempt  on  them 
or  leaves  confusion  concerning  them.  If  this  effect 
has  been  produced,  this  is  the  place  to  correct  it. 
Under  the  guidance  of  our  principles  we  have  reached 
the  position  that  after  we  have  equipped  and  provided 
ourselves  for  personal  service,  the  remainder  of  our 
material  prosperity  must  go  beyond  ourselves  for 
the  service  through  others  of  the  same  Lord  whom 
we  serve  directly.  The  problem  thence  arising  is 
that  of  the  proper  place  to  draw  the  line  between 
these  two  claimants ;  and  we  have  recognized  the 
great  danger  that  selfishness  will  lead  us  to  place  an 
undue  part  of  the  whole,  all  belonging  equally  to 
God,  on  the  side  of  self-equipment,  so  called,  slip- 
ping, consciously  or  unconsciously,  into  self-grati- 
fication or  glorification.  Spontaneity  will  save  us 
when  based  where  we  have  based  it.  It  alone  can 
save  us.  It  will  save  us  abundantly  if  only  we  have 
it  abundantly.  This  may  sound  so  simple  that  we 
will  fail  to  hear  the  fulness  of  its  voice  and  the 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  I25 

whole  of  its  message.     Therefore  consider  the  phi- 
losophy of  it. 

If  we  can  adequately  heed  the  exhortation  to  have 
in  us  the  same  mind  that  was  in  Christ  when,  being 
rich,  he  became  poor  for  our  sakes,  we  will  follow 
him  in  the  same  way.  The  poorer  disciple,  with  the 
cheerfulness  of  spontaneity  in  imparting,  will  econ- 
omize in  the  whole  field  of  self-gratification  in  order 
that  he  may  have  something  in  reserve  with  which 
to  express  and  satisfy  his  own  love  of  giving.  He 
will  not  expect  a  miracle  to  relieve  him  of  the  bur- 
den, but  will  joyfully  accept  and  increase  it,  within 
righteous  limits,  just  because  his  free  will  feels  that 
it  must  find  something  to  give.  He  will  not  cease 
curtailing  his  own  selfishness  while  he  criticizes  the 
selfishness  of  the  rich.  He  may  pity  the  other  and 
possibly  condemn  him,  but  he  will  not  compete  with 
him  in  the  same  bad  way,  knowing  that  the  narrow- 
ness of  the  way  (when  measured  by  resources) 
does  not  touch  the  essence  of  the  way  in  its  selfish- 
ness which  is  the  same  in  both  of  them.  And  what 
will  the  richer  disciple  do?  Precisely  the  same  thing 
and  for  precisely  the  same  reason.  His  larger  means 
will  be  his  opportunity  to  gratify  the  mind  of  Christ 
in  himself  more  largely,  as  measured  in  dollars  and 
cents,  than  his  poorer  brother  does,  but  not  more 
largely  in  the  celestial  estimates.  Standing  on  the 
same  basis  of  totality  they  will  reach  the  same  height 
of  efficiency.  That  is  why  God  loves  a  cheerful 
giver,  because  his  cheerful  giving  is  the  same  as  that 


126  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

which  moved  God  himself  when  he  gave  his  Son 
for  the  saving  of  the  world.  This  spontaneous  giv- 
ing, joyous  when  it  is  most  costly,  cheerful  always, 
is  the  highest  and  finest  expression  of  fellowship 
with  God.  God  is  love,  and  when  a  man  is  love  as 
God  is,  with  the  love  of  God  he  will  exercise  God's 
love  in  him  as  it  was  manifested  by  God  in  the  most 
perfect  manifestation  of  it  known  to  us. 

Lest  some  may  think  that  the  demands  of  system 
and  calculation  militate  against  freedom  and  joy  in 
giving,  let  this  be  added.  Cheerfulness  in  giving, 
as  elsewhere,  is  entirely  harmonious  with  serious- 
ness, calculating  seriousness.  Spontaneity  is  not 
spasm.  It  is  the  self-sourced  and  self-sustained  ex- 
pression of  God  in  us,  as  equitable  and  balanced  as 
it  is  energetic  and  bounding.  The  higher  the  quality 
of  a  mind,  the  more  it  finds  its  pleasure  in  thought- 
fulness  and  most  in  the  most  strenuous.  Cheerful- 
ness and  calculation  may  walk  hand  in  hand  along  a 
continuous  highway  of  rational  holiness.  The  deep- 
est joy  is  on  the  high  places  of  intelligence  and  re- 
flection. The  soul  that  has  come  into  tune  with 
God  by  incorporating  into  its  sympathies  and  will 
those  truths  which  Christ  brought  from  heaven,  is 
thereby  roused,  inspired,  and  elevated  into  thinking 
like  God's  thinking,  and  in  that  kind  of  thinking  the 
joy  of  the  Lord  abounds  as  it  does  not  in  any  other. 

(8)  Symmetry.  Let  us  not  forget  that  we  are 
thinking  of  the  ideal  in  stewardship.  This  ideal, 
while  never  dissociated  from  the  practical,  is  still 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  12/ 

supremely  spiritual.  It  lifts  all  its  elements  into  the 
realm  of  spiritual  character.  We  are  operating- 
above  mathematics  and  morals,  though  not  denying 
either  nor  ignoring  it  for  necessary  uses.  If  some 
things  that  we  have  said  seem  to  have  been  left 
unfinished  or  to  be  impracticable,  the  explanation  is 
that  we  are  not  on  the  plane  of  rules  but  of  princi- 
ples, and  the  application  of  these  principles  is  natu- 
rally and  necessarily  flexible.  Those  who  get  a  law, 
from  Adam  or  Moses  or  themselves,  cannot  quite 
go  at  the  problem  in  our  way.  This  way  terminates 
in  bringing  our  principles  together,  in  their  flexi- 
bility of  application  and  in  the  combination  of  them, 
as  our  definitions  have  outlined  them,  to  produce  at 
last  a  symmetrical  spiritual  character  as  far  as  that 
character  is  dependent  on  stewardship  in  material 
Ix)ssessions,  rooted  in  the  New  Testament  principles, 
and  operated  consistently  with  them.  Now  we  come 
to  the  climax  in  consideration  of  the  individual  at  the 
goal  of  symmetry.  We  may  conceive  of  it  as  the 
roofing  of  a  building,  or  the  unfolding  of  a  flower, 
or  as  any  other  event  embodying  a  climax  reached 
through  an  orderly  process. 

We  are  dealing,  then,  with  the  problem  of  the 
divine  quality  in  the  disciple,  and  such  symmetrical 
development  as  qualifies  and  equips  him  to  do  the 
will  of  God.  In  this  sense  perfection  is  the  goal  of 
every  redeemed  life  and  it  is  sure  to  reach  the  goal. 
God  did  not  give  himself  in  his  Son  for  any  patch- 
work of  human  character.    Heaven  has  no  crutches. 


128  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

because  it  needs  none.  The  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
turns  out  no  defectives.  God's  design  is  to  perfect 
all  of  his  people,  and  his  success  in  this  is  inevitable 
as  his  invincibility  is  resistless.  He  who  has  begun 
a  good  work  in  us  will  finish  it.  The  defects,  de- 
linquencies, degradations  of  the  most  hopeless  soul 
are  opportunities  for  the  divine  workmanship.  The 
essential  nucleus  is  established  in  every  one  at  his 
heavenly  birth,  and  the  structure  proceeds  through 
time  certainly,  and  through  eternity  for  all  I  know 
to  the  contrary.  Manifestly,  if  these  things  are  true, 
the  perfect  stewardship  works  perfection  in  symme- 
try of  character  for  the  steward,  and  as  far  as  the 
process  fails  the  result  fails.  Therefore  the  match- 
less importance  of  grounding  stewardship  in  the 
New  Testament  principles  and  applying  those  prin- 
ciples consistently  to  the  limit,  to  every  limit,  of  the 
whole  orbit  of  Christian  devotion,  which  is  as  wide 
as  the  whole  design  of  God  on  earth. 

The  principles  are  authoritative  and  changeless. 
The  adjustment  and  combination  of  them  are  at  the 
disposal  of  the  individual  in  the  exercise  of  his 
liberty  and  the  recognition  of  his  responsibility. 
How  they  are  to  be  fitted  into  each  other  and  builded 
all  together  into  the  best  effects,  both  in  the  spiritual 
character  and  the  promotion  of  the  Lord's  cause 
throughout  the  whole  world,  is  the  problem  with 
which  each  steward  must  deal  for  himself.  It  does 
not,  therefore,  follow  that  two  equally  faithful 
stewards,  in  the  same  church,  and  with  the  same 


NEW    TESTAxMENT    PRINCIPLES  1 29 

resources,  will  make  the  same  distribution  in  detail 
of  their  contributions,  still  less,  perhaps,  that  two 
with  differing  resources  will  do  so.  One  may  be 
led  by  the  Spirit  to  give  precedence  to  home  mis- 
sions and  the  other  to  foreign.  One  may  be  induced 
by  peculiar  considerations,  constitutional  or  other, 
to  turn  his  attention  more  to  a  hospital  and  the 
other  to  a  school.  Circumstances  may  lead  one  to 
help  a  suffering  neighbor  with  funds  which  the  other 
would  be  led  by  a  different  set  of  circumstances  to 
put  into  Bibles.  Wisdom  in  general  and  some  of 
our  principles  in  particular  seem  to  make  it  obli- 
gatory, other  things  being  equal,  for  each  to  keep 
in  view  the  world  sweep  of  enterprise,  no  matter 
how  limited  his  means  may  be.  For  thus  only  can 
he  attend  to  symmetry  in  his  own  character. 

If  one  says  that  this  gives  the  disciples  great 
liberty,  the  reply  is :  So  it  does,  and  well,  for  in  the 
use  of  this  liberty  is  found  the  finest  edification  of 
self  in  Christ.  We  can  secure  an  inferior  self-de- 
velopment by  subjecting  ourselves  to  fixed  rules, 
brought  in  from  anywhere  or  manufactured  at  home, 
can  do  this  as  the  papist  gets  something  out  of  his 
subjection  to  the  rules  of  his  hierarchy  ;  but  if  we  are 
to  make  the  most  of  ourselves  as  the  children  and 
servants  of  God,  we  must  take  our  liberty  for  all 
it  is  worth,  under  the  New  Testament  principles,  and 
use  it  loyally,  intelligently,  and  constantly.  The 
same  is  equally  true  for  the  best  distribution  of  the 
means  to  the  other  ends  in  view  for  the  kingdom  of 


130  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

Christ.  If  we  are  to  hold  in  the  best  way,  and  finally 
in  any  way  at  all,  to  our  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
we  must  hold  to  it  as  including  the  sovereign  liberty 
of  the  Spirit.  If  we  drift  into  that  naturalism  which 
subordinates  Him  to  the  priest,  the  pastor,  the 
church,  the  committee,  or  any  other,  we  shall  all 
together  reach  the  place  where  we  shall  make  a  botch 
of  it.  But  if  we  honor  the  Spirit  in  every  disciple, 
and  if  every  disciple  uses  his  liberty  to  honor  the 
Spirit  in  himself,  then  will  flow  into  the  church  and 
the  kingdom  that  unanimity  in  variety  which  can 
come  in  no  other  way.  The  stewards  and  their 
stewardship  will  be  developed  constantly,  under  the 
divine  hand  and  in  the  joy  of  Gk)d,  into  a  symmetry, 
simultaneous  and  spontaneous,  and  mutually  re- 
sponsive and  constructive. 

(9)  Equality.  Equality  opens  the  field  of  co- 
operation. This  field  has  always  presented  itself, 
more  or  less,  according  to  circumstances  and  condi- 
tions. But  in  the  present  it  has  expanded  greatly  in 
contrast  with  former  times.  Stewardship  now  prop- 
erly discharged  calls  for  a  great  vision  of  the  world 
and  the  methods  of  applying  the  gospel  to  it,  and 
therein  giving  oneself  to  it.  Organization  tempts 
to  lumping  resources  and  dumping  responsibilities, 
but  equally  it  opens  opportunities  for  analyzing  re- 
sources, in  the  light  of  varying  necessities,  and  pro- 
jecting oneself  through  a  multitude  of  channels 
throughout  the  world,  legitimately  enlarging  and 
sharpening  the  sense  of  responsibility.    Many  Chris- 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  I3I 

tians,  it  may  reasonably  be  feared,  lose  spiritually 
by  a  restriction  of  their  practical  interest  to  a  few 
fields  of  cooperation  or  a  single  one.  Especially  in 
small  churches,  with  abnormally  large  demands  rela- 
tive to  resources,  the  members  with  not  much  to 
give  at  best,  and  hearing  so  many  plaintive  calls  at 
home,  are  discouraged  into  seeing  little  or  nothing 
beyond  home.  Great  guilt  may  rest  on  many  of 
those  more  able,  because  they  blind  the  eyes  and  blur 
the  outlook  of  the  willing-hearted  by  failing  to  do 
more  equitably  their  own  part  at  home.  The  rich 
man  does  not  miss  his  hundred  dollars,  but  the  ten 
poor  men  do  miss  their  ten  dollars,  and  their  great- 
est loss  is  in  the  bondage  of  their  souls  to  the  nar- 
row view.  If  the  rich  man  would  act  worthy  of  his 
prosperity  in  local  expenses,  the  poor  would  be  re- 
leased from  the  bondage  laid  on  them  by  his  shirking 
and  be  freed  to  send  gladly  their  streams  of  helpful- 
ness outward.  This  illustration  of  the  principle  of 
equality  reversed  can  be  found  in  real  life  almost 
anywhere. 

How  can  burdens  be  fairly  distributed  among  those 
working  together  for  the  Lord?  This  is  a  perplex- 
ing question  under  our  principles  as  well  as  else- 
where. Perhaps  it  will  never  be  answered  with 
entire  satisfaction  to  all  in  any  combination.  In- 
equalities seem  to  be  inevitable  always.  No  system 
of  taxation  escapes  them  and  free  will  fails  to  secure 
a  perfect  result.  Sometimes  this  latter  produces  a 
very  imperfect  result.     It  certainly  does  so  wher- 


132  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

ever  some  of  the  participants  are  deficient  in  knowl- 
edge or  spirit,  which  means  substantially  every- 
where. 

All  schemes  that  set  up  a  uniform  amount,  or 
scale  of  percentages,  are  hostile  to  equality.  The 
rich  person  glibly  proposes,  when  a  hundred  dollars 
is  needed  at  the  Association,  for  instance,  that  one 
hundred  give  a  dollar  apiece.  How  easy !  Yes,  for 
him,  but  another  may  have  to  walk  home  if  he  does 
it,  although  he  does  not  like  to  seem  so  small  as  to 
refuse  or  confess  himself  so  destitute.  Such  pro- 
posals may  be  admissible  within  limits,  provided 
that  they  do  not  make  the  willingness  or  the  sub- 
serviency or  the  pride  of  the  less  able  a  hiding-place 
for  the  covetousness  of  the  more  able,  or  a  source 
of  discontent  or  jealousy  in  the  less  able.  No  doubt 
in  some  such  situations  the  more  prosperous  may  not 
be  so  covetous  as  others  think  him.  Their  thought 
may  spring  from  the  same  fault  in  themselves  for 
which  they  criticize  their  brethren,  for  covetous- 
ness is  not  confined  to  the  wealthy.  The  better 
kind  of  wealthy  steward  has  always  been  active,  and 
the  signs  indicate  that  in  the  future  he  will  be  possi- 
bly more  prominent  and  perfect  than  ever  before. 
A  great  opportunity  offers  to  him  to  show  the  mind 
of  Christ.  It  now  beckons  and  exhorts  him  to  pro- 
mote the  cause  of  the  Lord  by  using  his  greater  re- 
sources to  encourage  his  humbler  brethren  finan- 
cially, by  making  good  stewardship  attractive  to 
them.     This  he  can  do  by  setting  a  good  example 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  I33 

modestly  and  by  helping  them  over  hard  places  with 
indirect  assistance.  A  rich  man  may  not  be  a  van- 
dal. He  may  be  an  angel  of  light  and  leading  in 
paths  of  righteousness  and  pleasantness  through  the 
fields  of  stewardship. 

Apportionment  may  work  out  approximately  the 
right  result,  but  no  more  at  its  best,  like  taxation. 
This  is  the  second  most  serious  objection  to  it,  the 
first  being  its  legalizing  tendency,  involving  an  as- 
sault on  totality  and  spontaneity.  The  harmonious 
operation  of  equality  and  spontaneity,  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  has  a  hard  time  in  the  present  condi- 
tions. Possibly  in  church  life  the  nearest  approach 
to  perfection  was  in  a  method  employed  by  some 
Baptist  churches  in  the  country  fifty  or  a  hundred 
years  ago.  The  officers  of  the  church,  intimate  with 
the  finances  of  all  the  members,  were  authorized  to 
submit  an  annual  budget  for  church  support.  This 
being  presented  in  church  meeting,  each  member  had 
liberty  to  protest  his  assignment.  One  church  pur- 
sued this  plan  year  after  year  without  a  single  pro- 
test. At  last,  however,  a  brother  who  had  been  as- 
signed ten  dollars,  said  that  the  officers  were  not 
fully  acquainted  with  his  situation  and  he  thought 
that  five  dollars  was  as  much  as  he  ought  to  pay. 
Immediately  a  deacon  rose  and  said,  "  I  will  give 
five  dollars  more."  That  was  easy.  Sometimes  the 
solution  is  not  so  easy.  It  may  depend  on  the 
deacon.  The  apportionment  idea  is  no  modern  in- 
vention among  Baptists,  but  it  has  never  made  much 

K 


134  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

progress  until  recently,  and  how  far  it  will  go  this 
time  waits  to  be  seen.  The  conditions  were  never 
so  favorable  for  it  as  now,  both  in  securing  money 
and — in  suppressing  spontaneity. 

We  can  hardly  leave  this  principle  without  a 
glance  at  the  problem  of  church  methods  in  secur- 
ing money,  with  special  relation  to  impression  on 
the  world  and  its  reaction  on  the  church  as  an 
evangelizing  power.  The  difficulties  in  getting 
necessary  means  for  church  support  and  enterprises 
beyond  develop  strong  pressure,  ripening  into  se- 
rious temptation  to  lapse  from  principle  in  the  finan- 
cial field.  But  if  the  principles  we  have  recognized 
for  the  individual  are  sound,  they  apply  with  equal 
force  to  the  church,  or  any  other  association  of 
Christians  for  the  same  purposes.  Much  has  been 
said  on  this  problem,  some  of  it  very  earnest,  strenu- 
ous, severe.  Our  churches  have  probably  heeded 
these  criticisms  and  admonitions,  with  the  result  of 
some  improvement.  But  the  sky  is  not  yet  clear. 
What  light  do  the  principles  cast  on  this  field  ? 

Group  our  principles  around  Respectability. 
Churches  should  behave  themselves  respectably  in 
the  sight  of  the  world  and  of  God  in  their  finances. 
What  is  the  proper  relation  of  a  church  of  Christ 
to  the  world  in  respect  to  giving  and  receiving? 
Consult  the  Example.  What  did  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  give  to  the  world?  He  gave  the  gospel  of 
redemption  and  life  eternal ;  he  gave  an  adequate 
revelation  of  God's  will  for  men  up  to  the  whole 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  I35 

measure  of  need  in  the  present  time;  he  gave  a  sin- 
less life  in  which  the  will  of  the  Father  was  central 
and  supreme,  so  that  no  fault  was  found  in  him; 
he  gave  a  service,  incidental  to  his  main  mission  on 
earth  and  tributary  to  it,  of  helpfulness  in  the  tem- 
poral and  minor  needs  of  humanity.  Just  this,  no 
more  and  no  less,  should  his  people  do,  collectively 
as  well  as  individually.  What  did  he  receive  from 
the  world?  What  it  gave  to  him  voluntarily,  what- 
ever did  not  divert  him  from  his  mission  or  en- 
tangle him  in  the  execution  of  it.  Just  that,  no  more 
and  no  less,  should  his  church  receive.  He  did  not 
ask  the  world,  the  rulers,  or  the  people,  to  give  him 
anything.  His  church  has  no  right  to  ask  the 
world  for  anything  applicable  to  its  ease,  aggrandize- 
ment, glorification.  When  it  does  so  in  the  slightest 
degree  it  is  no  longer  respectable.  It  may  be  ex- 
ceedingly poor  in  this  world's  goods,  environed  with 
difficulties  and  overwhelmed  with  adversities,  and 
yet  be  respectable.  But  when  it  asks  anything  of 
the  world  as  a  benefactor,  it  is  in  disgrace,  deep 
disgrace.  What  it  cannot  secure  through  its  own 
consecration  on  Christian  principles,  without  seeking 
a  cent  from  the  world,  it  should  omit  from  its  plan. 
Too  strong  language  here  is  impossible.  The  whole 
history  of  Christianity,  in  general  and  particular, 
brings  a  voluminous  and  uncompromising  testimony. 
And  when  a  church  stoops  a  fraction  of  a  barleycorn 
to  get  a  favor  from  the  world,  whether  in  the  in- 
dividual, the  society,  or  State,  it  stoops  to  its  own 


136  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

undoing  as  a  spiritual  power  and  an  untarnished 
life.  It  should  cut  the  pattern  of  its  program  to  the 
cloth  of  its  resources  and  take  the  consequences.  It 
may  not  get  an  organ  or  a  carpet  or  a  cushion  or 
any  one  of  a  hundred  things  that  please  the  natural 
man,  but  it  will  get  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  life  divine  for  itself  and  others.  Through  these 
it  will  get  all  else  that  it  needs.  Nowhere  under  the 
sun  is  the  saying  that  the  love  of  money  is  a  root 
of  all  kinds  of  evil  more  true  than  in  the  financing 
of  a  church  or  any  other  Christian  organization  or 
enterprise. 

This  writing  would  become  disproportionate  here 
if  it  should  go  into  details  touching  fairs,  feeds, 
fantastics,  and  frivolity,  devised  to  coddle  or  drub 
the  worldly  into  trading  with  it  on  extortionate 
terms,  and  despising  it  then  and  thereafter,  or  what 
may  be  worse,  strengthening  themselves  in  self- 
righteousness  with  the  assurance  that  they  have  pla- 
cated God  by  condescending  to  flip  a  farthing  into 
his  treasury.  The  claim  is  sometimes  made  that 
these  methods  can  be  so  used  as  to  promote  the 
spiritual  life  and  win  men  to  Christ.  That  is  not 
denied  as  an  abstract  proposition  or  an  occasional 
possibility,  for  some  of  them.  It  is  conceivably  true. 
But  it  is  demonstrably  true  that  in  any  large  view 
it  never  has  worked  that  way.  Proof  has  been  mar- 
shaled again  and  again  that  such  methods  usually 
cost  more  than  they  come  to  financially,  and  lose 
more  spiritually  than  any  financial  gain  could  justify. 


NEW    TESTAMENT    PRINCIPLES  I37 

When  socially  respectable  people  sell  to  the  poor 
their  old  clothes,  which  they  would  be  ashamed 
to  sell  to  any  one  for  their  own  income,  and  in  the 
interest  of  the  income  of  Him  whose  are  the  cattle 
on  a  thousand  hills,  they  proclaim  themselves  to  be 
more  respectable  than  the  Most  High.  Every  church 
is  under  the  most  strenuous  responsibility  to  avoid 
every  method  of  securing  funds  which  may  seem  to 
reputable  people  beneath  the  highest  standards  of 
integrity  and  dignity ;  and  equally  to  use  only  those 
methods  that  are  respectable  according  to  Christ  as 
indicated  in  those  principles  which  he  has  announced 
in  the  New  Testament.  The  only  way  of  life  for  a 
church  is  to  give  the  gospel  to  the  world,  and  other 
things  in  strict  subserviency  to  this  service ;  and  to 
ask  nothing  from  the  world  but  repentance  toward 
God,  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  obedience  to 
him.  When  it  goes  beyond  that  it  goes  into  the  mist 
and  the  mire. 


NOTES 


1  For  explanation  of  the  change  from  "  Association  "  to  "  Conti- 
nental "  in  the  title  of  this  fund  we  go  back  to  177 1.  In  that  year, 
after  the  associational  fund  had  been  accumulating  for  several  years, 
with  a  consequently  augmenting  income  for  missionary  uses,  the 
experiment  was  inaugurated  of  a  general  missionary  or  evangelist, 
with  a  rather  roving  commission,  who  actually  went  on  extended 
tours.  This  action  lifted  the  missionary  operations  to  a  wider  out- 
look. The  probability  seems  to  be  that  this  more  distinguished  mis- 
sionary came  to  be  called  "  Continental,"  in  contrast  with  the  more 
local  missionaries,  and  the  fund  was  thought  of  and  talked  of  under 
that  title;  so  that  in  1778  Continental  supplanted  Association  with- 
out explanation,  being  understood  by  all  those  interested  in  it. 
Prior  to  this  date  the  records  show  no  fund  in  the  Association  except 
this  one  and  the  "  Hubbs,"  which  was  educational.  These  two  in  this 
year  were  kept  separate,  as  thty  always  had  been.  If,  then,  "  Conti- 
nental "  referred  to  a  third  fund,  amount  about  six  hundred  dollars, 
it  now  appeared  in  the  records  for  the  iirst  time,  with  no  indication 
of  where  it  came  from;  and  the  "Association"  fund  disappeared 
from  the  records,  where  it  had  been  annually  appearing,  without 
explanation  at  this  time  or  any  other.  Therefore  the  statement  that 
it  was  put  in  the  Continental  Fund  seems  to  make  it  almost  neces- 
sary to  understand  that  Continental  and  Associational  were  two 
names  for  the  same  thing.  What  should  have  been  said  was  that 
"  Continental  "  was  substituted  for  "  Association  "  as  the  name  of 
this  fund.  If  this  explanation  is  not  satisfactory  to  the  critic,  he 
is    at    liberty    to    find    a    better. 

-  In  our  run  through  the  Philadelphia  Association  a  few  marks 
of  progress  have  been  picked  up  which  may  be  set  down  here  to 
entertain  our  curiosity,  if  not  to  instruct  our  understanding  and 
illuminate  our  outlook.  Possibly  some  of  these  may  not  be  strictly 
accurate  as  first  things,  but  they  are  presumably  so  and  certainly  not 
much  in  error. 

The  word  "money"  appeared  first  in  the  records  in  1765-  Pro- 
vision was  made  for  printing  an  edition  of  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
"  the  churches  to  send  money  for  the  number  they  want  before  the 
first  of  December." 

The  first  collection  at  the  Association  was  in   1772.     A   deficit  ap- 
peared   in    the    fund    for    Morgan     Edwards    on    his    "  continental  "^ 
tour,   thirty  dollars,   which  was   "  made  up  by  the  brethren  present. 
Whether   the    "  hat   was   passed  "    in   the   meeting   is   not   certain,   but 
by   some   method  those   present  provided  the  money. 

The  first  formal  financial  tables  came  in  1767-  Statements  of 
items  had  been  made  earlier,  but  in  this  year  two  tables,  one  for 
the  Association  fund  and  the  other  for  the  Konoloway,  appeared. 
Such  tables  wholly  disappeared  from  177S  to  1790,  the  first  of  these 
years  having  four  and  the  last  one.  Thence  on  throughout  the  cen- 
tury their  showing  is  very  defective,  and  not  till  after  the  opennig 
of  the  nineteenth  century  did  they  get  fairly  well  back  toward  the 
respectability  which  characterized  them  prior  to  the  war  for  inde- 
pendence. 

1,38 


NOTES  139 

Apportionment  was  tried  in  1774  in  the  effort  for  Rhode  Island 
College.  What  success  was  attained  is  not  stated  except  in  the  case 
of  New  York,  which  is  credited  with  having  "  raised  above  what  was 
proposed."  The  statement  has  been  made,  and  may  be  correct,  that 
every   member    was   asi<ecl    for   "  six   pence   sterling." 

The  word  "stewardship"  tirst  presents  itself  in  1776,  but  its 
application  was  to  reading  the  Scriptures,  prayer,  attending  worship, 
and  maintaining  discipline,  not  at  all  to  property.  Its  use  in  finance 
did  not  come  till  1800,  when  the  churches  were  urged,  "as  stewards 
of  God,"  "  to  maintain  a  fund  for  the  assistance  of  such  ministers 
as  may  be  called  to  supply  destitute  churches,  or  otherwise  publish 
the  gospel   in   their   connection  " — local   home   missions. 

In  1784  is  noted  the  first  instance  of  compensation  for  service. 
The  brother  who  had  attended  to  the  rebinding  of  the  .Association's 
books  was  allowed  part  of  a  small  surplus  from  the  funds  raised  for 
that  purpose.  Possibly  something  of  this  nature  occurred  for  the 
benefit  of  the  numerous  preachers  who  traversed  the  wilderness,  but 
no  clear  case  of  it  appears,  and  it  is  certain  that  usually  such  mes- 
sengers received  only  their  expenses,  happy  if  they  got  that  much. 
The  various  funds  for  missionaries  were  only  expense  funds;  they 
carried  no  compensation   for  the  work. 

The  Association  was  ninety  years  old  when,  in  1797,  it  was  in- 
corporated,   and    thus    legally    authorized    to    manage    property. 

In  1800  was  first  "  recommended  to  our  churches  "  that  money  be 
gathered  in  connection  with  their  preaching  meetings,  after  the 
sermon   in   the   interest   of  ministerial   education. 

In  1802  is  the  first  instance  of  the  practice  long  in  debate  among 
us  and  still  alive.  The  delegates  engaged  for  themselves  and  their 
churches  to  pay  two  dollars  for  each  church.  The  beneficiary  of 
this  fund  was  the  enterprise  then  operating  for  the  collection  and 
preservation  of  historical  materials.  The  form  of  this  action,  "  on 
the  part  of  themselves  and  the  churches  they  represent,"  seems  to 
indicate  their  understanding  that  the  churches  were  pledged  con- 
ditionally, subject  to  their  own  consent,  and  the  individuals  absolutely. 

In  1809  it  first  appears  that  the  Association  collected  money  for 
the  printing  of  the  Minutes.  Presumably  the  habit  still  generally 
prevalent  had  been  so  from  the  first,  to  let  the  documents  pay 
their  own  way  by  sales  to  the  churches,  informally  understood  and 
operated. 

^  Since  the  statement  in  the  text  which  this  note  refers  to  was 
written,  an  editorial  in  one  of  our  best  Baptist  papers  appeared.  It 
presented  systematic  giving  effectively,  but  closed  with  these  words, 
"  And  this  means  tithing."  The  prevalence  and  persistence  of  this 
assumption  and  confusion  is  extraordinary,  and  suggests  questions 
touching  the  reason  or  sincerity  of  their  authors  which  will  not  be 
expressed    here. 

*  The  one  seeming  exception  to  this  is  in  Matthew  23  :  1-12.  But 
it  is  only  seeming.  Consider  it  closely.  Jesus  addressed  "  the  multi- 
tude and  the  disciples."  Under  this  introduction  only  two  things 
are  said.  The  first  of  these  (2-7)  was  appropriate  to  the  multitude 
as  Jews;  the  second  (8-12)  was  appropriate  only  to  the  disciples  as 
such.  The  introduction,  in  the  light  of  what  follows  it,  connects 
the  first  thing  said  with  the  multitude,  and  the  second  with  his 
disciples.  If  this  distinction  is  not  intended  in  the  introduction  s 
separation  of  the  hearers  into  two  classes,  I  see  no  reason  for  it. 
in  fact  a  reason  against  it,  for  then  it  is  not  only  superfluous,  but 
confusing  and  misleading.  Following  the  two  things  forecast  by  the 
introduction,    is    a    third    addressed    to    "  scribes    and    Pharisees,  '    as 


140  STEWARDSHIP   AMONG   BAPTISTS 

clearly  specific  to  them  as  the  two  preceding  features  are  to  the  two 
classes  indicated.  If  the  analysis  of  the  application  in  the  introduc- 
tion had  covered  the  three,  then  "  scribes  and  Pharisees  "  would 
have  followed  "  disciples  "  immediately.  Or,  more  clearly,  the  multi- 
tude would  have  been  placed  where  it  is,  the  disciples  immediately 
before  verse  8,  and  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  where  they  are. 

"A  rich  man  once  said,  "Tithing  makes  me  stingy."  His  mean- 
ing as  explained  by  the  reporter  of  his  remark.  Dr.  A.  S.  Hobart, 
was  this:  "  His  idea  was  that  if  he  made  a  sort  of  agreement  to 
pay  ten  per  cent,  he  would  be  doing  business  and  pay  all  he  agreed. 
And  when  a  good  cause  came  to  him  he  would  be  subtly  influenced 
by  the  thought,  '  I  have  used  up  my  tenth,'  and  say  No." 

In  the  same  vein  is  an  instance  observed  by  myself.  A  pastor 
of  a  good  Baptist  church  in  one  of  our  largest  cities — a  compara- 
tively young  man,  without  very  heavy  expenses,  and  receiving  an 
income  of  more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  annually,  with 
excellent  prospects  of  continued  financial  sufficiency,  who  was  then, 
as  he  has  continued  to  be,  highly  esteemed  as  a  spiritual  leader — 
spoke  in  my  hearing  to  two  assemblies  within  a  few  weeks  of  each 
other.  His  first  address  was  to  a  congregation  of  young  people, 
largely  wage-earners  in  factories.  Emphatically  and  uncompromi- 
singly he  pressed  on  them  the  duty  under  God"s  law  of  giving  at 
least  one-tenth  of  their  earnings.  A  few  weeks  later,  in  a  mission 
meeting,  where  a  fund  to  meet  an  emergency  was  being  raised  by 
small  contributions,  he  rose  and  said  quite  complacently,  in  manner 
at  least,  "  I  am  in  full  sympathy  with  this  effort  and  would  like 
to  contribute,  but  my  tithe  is  all  appropriated."  If  these  things  are 
done  in  the  green  tree,  what  should  we  expect  in  the  dry? 

And  the  attention  of  the  tithists,  who  hold  that  the  tithe  is  a 
debt  that  must  be  paid  before  one  can  give  at  all,  is  respectfully 
called  to  the  fact  that  that  reputable  minister,  with  money  in  his 
pocket,  was  deliberately  debarring  himself  from  the  blessing  of  the 
giver,  being  content  with  paying  his  debt.  And  as  to  those  factory 
girls,  after  they  had  paid  the  debt,  what  would  they  have  left  with 
which  to  bless  themselves  in  the  experience  of  giving  if,  indeed, 
they  could  pay  the  debt  without  wronging  themselves?  The  writer 
restrains  himself  from  writing  some  things  that  he  thinks  just  here 
lest  he   might   seem   to  be   too   severe. 

« The  "Missionary  Magazine"  of  December,  1846,  presents  three 
"  Important  Considerations,"  applicable  to  missionary  collections, 
the  third  of  which  is  vigorous  enough  to  pass  along:  "  Systematic 
effort  to  obtain  from  every  member  an  annual  contribution.  This 
should  be  done,  not  by  presenting  the  contribution  box,  where  covet- 
ousness  can  hide  its  four  pence,  but  by  the  personal  applicatioa  of 
suitable  collectors,  who  shall  call  upon  the  members  individually.  .  . 
The  author  of  mischief  must  have  invented  the  contribution  box. 
It  is  an  instrument  of  self-deception,  a  snare  to  weak  consciences,  a 
lurking-place  of  baptized  penuriousness,  and  has  been  the  occasion 
of  immense  damage  to  the  churches.  Why  should  it  be  used  for  the 
collection  of  funds  for  the  support  of  Christ's  kingdom  any  more 
than  for  the  support  of  the  republic?  .  .  In  other  relations  we 
recognize  indebtedness  and  pay  accordingly;  but  Him  who  loved  us 
and  gave  himself  for  us  we  put  off  with  a  handful  of  the  smallest 
coins  in  our  currency,  secretly  deposited  by  those  who  have  con- 
trived to  give  as  little  as  possible."  The  "  contribution  box  "  m- 
tended  in  these  words  is  much  different  from  that  which  gathers 
the  duplex  envelopes  of  systematic  contributors,  but  that  ancient 
kind   is  still  among  us. 


iiiiiiiimiiim?.,  9"^^'  Seminarv   Librari 


1    1012  01234  9546 


_,.  DATE  DUE 

CAYLORO 

PRINTED  INU.S. A. 

.11  l!.i  niM'hii.l!; 


Illilliliililliiiiiiiii 


